Kyle 091: The Road Not Taken
by general MB
Summary: *SEQUEL to Kyle-091*- In 2008, Kyle Stevens went to the Halo universe and had to become a Spartan. In 2009, the Halo universe... is coming to us, and Kyle must risk it all to stand in it's way. Will he succeed, or will someone close have to pay the price?
1. prologue

**Ok, I was really happy with the reviews I got for eyes only, so here it is, the official sequel to Kyle-091, enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: If you have not read Kyle-091 and Kyle-091: Eyes Only, this fic will not make sense, read those two first. Oh and I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**Prologue: Uniform Foxtrot Oscar **

**April 15, 2009**

**location: Colorado, Cheyenne mountain complex **

Tech Sergeant Danny Lewis reclined back in his seat in NORAD's old control center. Cheyenne mountain wasn't considered NORAD anymore, now that most of the operations had been moved over to Peterson AFB, but the facility was still being used for some low key operations. He was the only one in the control center and his gaze was drawn to the large board suspended over the wall which showed a digital picture of the world. Several circles were positioned over the map at different places on the US, the range of the PAVE PAWS radar system. Designed to track incoming ICBMs from Russia, it was nothing more than a cold war relic. It was the middle of the night, graveyard shift and Danny was considering taking a nap when the status board started to blink. He thought it was fatigue but when he rubbed his eyes sure enough there was a SATCOM warning coming in from Cape Cod AFS, where the easternmost radar instillation in the US was situated.

"Uh, Major Bennett, you better get in here" Lewis said into the intercom. A minute later Major Paul Bennett arrived.

"Whats wrong?" he asked.

"Cape Cod is reporting a contact, sir."

"ICBM?"

"Negative, sir" Lewis replied, "RAF Fylingdales and Thule AFB are also reporting the contact. Its descending through the atmosphere."

"What!" Bennett cried as he settled into his desk and picked up the red phone. "This is Bennett, initiate scram protocol, lock up the mountain and get me General Denning."

On the SATCOM screen, Air Force General Jeffery Denning appeared.

"Sir, approximately ten minutes ago, three radar instillations reported a contact, we're plotting its course now" Bennett reported.

"_Is it directed at us?"_

"Sir, we do not believe its an ICBM because the unknown is heading across the northern Atlantic."

Major, NASA believes its a comet or some kind of meteor" Lewis said as he hung up his phone,  
"they have a preliminary trajectory of it landing somewhere in the middle east."

"_So what you two are telling me is that a large asteroid is about hit the god damned middle east!"_

"Sir, we have not confirmed this is an asteroid, we would have a heads up from NASA of any meteor heading for us."

"Holy shit!" Lewis cried "sirs... its slowing down."

"What!?" Bennett and Denning cried in unison

"sir, the unknown appears to be entering a landing trajectory" said Lewis. "Getting revised landing coordinates from NASA."

Next to the general appeared a map of the middle east which zoomed in on the Iraq-turkey border region. A red line went across a swaft of the region and well into Iran.

"We expect the unknown to pass out of radar range in the next ten minutes and make contact five after that" said Bennett said as he read the report on his computer.

--

"understood, keep me apprised" Denning said as he switched off the feed and picked up his phone. "This is General Denning. We have a situation here, get me General Petraeus on the line and wake the secretary of defense."

**

* * *

**

April 16, 2009

**location: Arlington, Virginia- the pentagon**

"Thank you for coming" said Denning as he took his seat at the conference table an hour an a half after the object crashed, a slide show played behind them. On video was General Petraeus from CENTCOM and the secretary of defense from his home.

"At approximately 23:56 hours an unidentified object entered Earth atmosphere over the northern Atlantic and began a semi-controlled landing according to NASA's data. Twenty minutes later the USGS registered a 2.7 earthquake in Iraq's Arbil Provence which fell within the object's estimated landing zone. Several air traffic control centers in the middle east reported the object as it passed low over the area and reports of a fireball are coming in from the region. We still don't know if this is an asteroid or meteor, but NASA thinks... it may be a UFO."

There were several hushed whispers from the officers in the room as denning continued.

"We need to send a team into the LZ to find out exactly what landed there. But we can't wait to call in specialists. That area is an insurgent hot spot and god knows the Turkish military is going to send their own people across the boarder, along with the Iranians."

"General" said Marine Colonel Andrews, "there's a marine expeditionary force stationed in Mosul. They're trained for biological and radiological emergencies. If we get the ok, I can have them suited up inside the hour, they can be at the site within three."

"What's the best response time we can expect from the Turkish military?" The secretary of defense asked.

"They've scaled back their border troops since the troop surge put in place by the previous administration, I'd say about four to five hours" said Colonel Andrews.

"I'm giving the recon mission the green light, General Denning. Colonel Andrews, I want you to place the call" said the secretary of defense.

"Yes, sir" said Andrews.

"The officers began to file but of the room and the video feed from CENTCOM switched off, leaving only the secretary and General Denning in the room."

"Sir, under the circumstances I think you should consider waking up the president" said Denning.

"This is simply a check-up mission that we can easily prove was a small earthquake to the public. I'll have this put in his morning briefing though. Keep me apprised."

**

* * *

**

April 16, 2009

**location: Iraq, Ninawa Governorate, Mosul- US Marine barracks**

First Lieutenant Simon Florence strolled into the room housing the other six members of their response team. Two were sleeping, one was on a laptop, presumably writing home, and the others were simply mingling.

"Listen up, men. Word's been passed down by the SECDEF, we are to gear up and investigate the site of last night's earthquake. Working theory is that insurgents may have had a low-yield nuclear device supplied by terrorist forces or Iran, that accidentally blew up in their faces."

"So what's the real story then, el-tee?" one of his men asked.

"Last night some kind of fireball crashed there at the exact moment of the earthquake" Florence explained. "We're going in to figure out what it was so SECDEF has a better idea of whether or not to call in the egg-heads. Get your gear in order, wheels up in fifteen."

His men started to file out, and noticed the one with the laptop was busy putting it away. He was a Corporal, their newest team member, and the son of a personal friend.

"David, you ok for this?" Florence asked.

David met his eyes and said "yes, sir."

"Kid, listen, there was nothing you could have done with that IED the other day, be thankful we didn't loose any of our guys."

"I know, sir, and that's not what I was thinking about" David replied.

"I know he was your brother, but it was a brain aneurysm, he could have had it for years. He was just a walking time bomb. Be thankful you got to spend as much time with him as ya did, kid. Now get suited up."

"Yes, sir" David said as he went to strap on his gear. He started with his desert fatigues, followed by his rucksack, containing all the equipment necessary for handling hazardous materials, although that wasn't his specialty. He was the team's scout and rifleman, three of the members of the team held the doctorates, they were the real team in a sense. Some of the other specialty equipment the HAZ-team was equipped with included the newest vaccines designed to protect against a wide range of biological weapons. He secured his Beretta and M4A1, then met the rest of the squad at the landing pads.

--

It was two hours into their mission, and after stopping in Iribil, they were almost to their target sight. This part of Iraq reminded David much of home, it wasn't like the dry, hot desert, but this area had grasslands and trees, it was hard to imagine you were in a different country.

"Listen up" Florence said as he addressed the team, "we're two minutes from touchdown, we're heading in on foot because of reported insurgent activity in the region. There are a lot of caves in these hills, perfect hiding spots. I want your eyes on them at all times. Simmons, constant radiation sweeps. It it was a nuke I don't feel like glowing in the dark any time soon."

A few of the men chuckled, but that one bit of humor didn't last as their UH-60 settled into a hover over their LZ. Florence uncoiled the rope and threw it over the side, screaming "GO, GO, GO!"

David was second to last to leave the safety of the helicopter, and the second his boots hit the dirt he brought up his rifle and sighted down the red-dot scope, scanning the hills surrounding the LZ. After everyone was down, the pilot cut the rope and pulled out, holding station keeping a few miles away, ready to extract the Marines if necessary.

"HAZ-team, move out" said Florence.

"Sir", reported Simmons, "radiation levels are normal, trace gas and particulates are also green."

"We're still a couple of clicks out" said Florence, "do a scan every five minutes."

"Yes, sir" Simmons replied.

David kept a firm grip on his rifle as the proceeded through the foothills, trying not to get distracted, but a conversation he had with his mother over a webcam a few months ago.

"_David, when will you be able to come home for the funeral?"_

"_Mom, I told you, I'm on the Marine HAZ-team now, I'm on 24 hour alert up here."_

"_David, this is your brother we're talking about."_

"_mom, I can't, what if something goes wrong and people are hurt because I wasn't there to do something about it?"_

"_David, this is hardly the poin..."._

_CONNECTION TIME-OUT_

David snapped himself back to reality with the sound of the first gunshot, followed by Simmons keeling over with a bullet in his gut. There was screaming from in the foothills and David could see several heads popping up from rock cover, followed by their weapons. David sighted down his scope and saw these troops were better equipped than insurgents, but their uniforms weren't Turkish, which left only one possibility.

"El-tee, we've got Iranian revolutionary guards closing in!" David yelled to his superior.

Copy that said Florence as he radioed for help. "This is US Marine Corps HAZ-team, calling Gunship 3-6, we are pinned down by IRG troops that have crossed the border, request air assistance and extraction, over."

David hit two of the snipers but didn't see the Iranians were larger in number, and they were quickly flanked, with one Marine down. The remaining six dragged their comrade over to a small circle of rocks and laid him inside while they took up defensive positions and waited for rescue.

"Running low on ammo" said one of the Marines.

David himself had three magazines left for his M4A1, and four spare for his 9 millimeter. David saw a few Iranian troops attempt to rush his position, so he removed a frag grenade from his belt.

"Frag out!" He called as he pulled the pin, tossed it, and ducked as the grenade went off, doing it's job and stopping the Iranian advance in it's tracks.

"Marines, we need to attempt a break out to get to the LZ, Simmons is bleeding out!" Said Florence.

David prepared to lay down a covering fire, followed by a frag grenade, but something happened that stunned both sides. There was a defining roar followed by a fireball from the general direction of the target site. Suddenly a massive dust cloud rolled over the hills and straight at the Marines.

"Hit the deck!" Florence cried, but the order came too late for David as he was propelled onto the air and carried along with the dust. He didn't know how long he was airborne for, or when he even landed, but he landed hard. Thankfully his goggles kept the dust out of his eyes, and gave him some sight thanks to the new lenses designed with partial infrared technology.

David could make out a couple shapes moving towards his position, at first thought it was his team, but when he received a butt of a AK-47 to his gut, he thought otherwise. He herd the two Iranian solders laughing in Arabic, probably gloating about his capture. David moved his hand to the last frag grenade on his belt, and prepared to use it rather than let the Iranians take him alive.

"_At least these two bastards are going out with me"_ David thought as he hooked his thumb through the tab.

Suddenly, there was a blood spray from one of the soldiers as he collapsed dead, a large figure standing behind him. The other soldier turned and fired his AK at the figure, David caught a shimmer of yellow coming from the figure as he took two long strides toward the Iranian, and suddenly, a white hot light erupted from his hand and he thrust it through the Iranian, skewering him. The light disappeared and the body dropped, the figure approaching David.

David had probably hit his head on the fall because the last thing he remembered was the figure throwing him over his shoulder, his _metal_ shoulder.


	2. Chapter 1: not your average helljumper

**Message from the general: **ok folks, this chapter is gonna be confusing, so just sit tight and hold on for the ride. It should all become clear as the story progresses. Don't forget to review.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**chapter 1: not your average helljumper **

**August 15, 2572**

**location: Sol system, Earth, Australia- camp Sturgis**

"Damn it, marines, move it!" Staff Sergeant Garnet cried. His ten man fire team was pinned down only a few meters from their objective. One ODST stuck his head around a barricade and received a round to the head. He collapsed in spasms and Hairnet raised his rifle and put two in the bastard that tired to come around the corner, hoping to catch the rest of them off guard.

"Leave him!" Garnet barked when two of his helljumpers tried to help their fallen comrade. "Corporal, "where the hell are you?!" He barked into the radio.

"_Right where I need to be"_ a female voice responded.

"Damn it corporal, if you don't stop talking in riddles I'll..." but he didn't get the chance to finish as an enemy force came around the corner and he along with two other helljumpers fell as the rounds struck their bodysuits. The remaining six ODSTs peppered the enemy force and they too dropped. Garnet could barely see through all his convulsions but he narrowed his focus and caught a black blur moving behind their objective. The perimeter guards dropped and the blur moved at lighting speed, secured the objective and ran off.

"_Exercise complete"_ a voice said over the PA. The stun pads on Garnet's bodysuit deactivated and he was able to get up, as were the the ODSTs 'killed' in the exercise.

"Corporal, get out here" Garnet barked.

Another ODST emerged from behind one of the barricades, holding a BR55 in one hand and the green flag in the other. She tossed the flag over to Garnet.

"What the hell was with that stunt?" Garnet demanded, "you were supposed to stay glued to my six".

"Sir, I saw an opportunity to flank the enemy from behind and I took it" the Corporal replied.

"And if this were a real situation myself and privates O'Brien and Patterson would be dead because you weren't there to back us up" Garnet snapped. "If you want to be a member of the helljumpers then you will learn to work as a team. Dismissed, Corporal".

The Corporal snapped of a quick salute and promptly marched off the outdoor training field. She handed her BR55 and sidearm to the armory tech outside the range, then went back to the main barracks. Her room was shared with her fire team, and she was the only female member, not to mention the youngest at 19. The Corporal removed her helmet and set it in her locker, then began to strip off her bodysuit. She had a very athletic figure, underneath she wore a black tanktop and underwear. She put on a set of pants that matched her top and stuck the vest and suit in her locker. Her dogtags rattled together as she laid down in her bunk, which was nothing more than a compartment in the wall with a mattress, and a small shelve. Plus a mirror. She looked into it and her face stared back, she had piercing blue eyes. Her hair was a light brown color, and way over regulation. She had it done up in a long braid behind her head. Her eyes shifted to her dogtags, and the information stitched onto the metal.

**CPL-Stevens, R**

**DOB: 3/4/53**

**SN: U7209-C**

Corporal Rebbecca Stevens, in the corps that was her identity, but there was so much more beneath the surface. She had always been a fast runner, Rebbecca's mother told her when she was young that she got it from her. Her fierce determination however came from her father. Both of them never talked to Rebbecca about their pasts, but she knew they were both in the military. That's why she decided to enlist in the Marines and join the elite ODST branch. That was a year and a half ago. She was still in training but had risen in the ranks rather quickly.

Her team was on a destroyer prepping for a live HEV drop when there was an explosion on the munitions deck, trapping three marines. She braved the fire and rescued them, not to mention blew a hole in the hull, extinguishing the fire before it spread to the archer missiles. Command had advanced her a full rank level and she was promoted to full corporal, and given a commendation for bravery. Rebbecca also had a reputation of going rogue, not working with the rest of her team to achieve the objective. Rebbecca had always felt something deep inside her, that she was better than all the rest and not just because she was fast. She was smart, had quick reflexes and was determined never to quit. Rebbecca glanced over at a small picture frame on her shelf, there were three people in the shot. A man with blond hair and a woman with light brown, shoulder length hair. Between them stood a little girl. Rebbecca and her parents when she was five. Rebbecca's moment of nostalgia was drowned out as seven members of her team entered the barracks. One of them, O'Brien, pulled a chair up to Rebbecca's bunk and sat down.

"What's your malfunction, Stevens?" he spat, "don't you know, there is no I in team".

"I didn't see you at that flag" Rebbecca replied, "I thought you said you were able to take down five members of team Sigma in the last match. Or was it the other way around?"

"Watch your mouth" O'Brien snapped.

"This probably isn't the first time you've boasted to a girl about the size of your ego" said Rebbecca, "or other things".

O'Brien's face turned red and a few of the other ODSTs chuckled. But O'Brien had come prepared, and had managed to dig up a little dirt. "At least my parents aren't a couple of freaks".

What he didn't know was that he hit a sensitive spot. Rebbecca lunged at him with lightning speed. Smacked a quick uppercut to the top of his head. Both of them landed in a heap and the other helljumpers did nothing, except encourage more fighting. O'Brien quickly regain his posture and smacked Rebbecca across the face. She fell of to the side and O'Brien stood over her, a smug look on his face. He prepared to kick Rebbecca in the side but as he sent his foot forward she used her speed and grabbed it first, pulled hard and O'Brien lost his balance. Rebbecca raised her arm and prepared for a finishing blow.

"Corporal, stand down!" Garnet barked as he walked in. Rebbecca, O'Brien and the other helljumpers stood at attention as the staff sergeant walked in. "I want to know who started it?"

"She did, sir" O'Brien said.

"Walk with me, Stevens" Garnet ordered.

Rebbecca shot O'Brien a glare before following the staff sergeant out. He took her to his office, a small windowless, oak paneled room with a pair of chairs in front of his desk. The other helljumpers had nicknamed it 'hell's receptionist's desk'. Rebbecca took her usual seat while Garnet settled into his chair.

"Stevens, what exactly did he do to provoke you?" Garnet asked.

"He called my parents freaks" Rebbecca explained. "he can damn well insult me but he knows they're not here to defend themselves. He doesn't even know them".

"Does it even matter that he's insulted them?" Garnet asked. "I mean they've been dead for what, ten years?"

"Thirteen years, sir" Rebbecca corrected, "dead or not, I'm not going to let some arrogant punk insult their memory".

"Stevens, I'm going to give you a little life lesson. If you want to be in the helljumpers then you'll learn to take bullshit like that. I've gotten it a few times myself and you learn to deal with it. Corporal, I should tell you that I've been getting reports of your behavior from other personnel. There's considerable pressure on me to demote you, hell they'd like nothing better than to throw you out of the ODST branch". Garnet looked down a minute before meeting her eyes. "How much do you know about your parents?"

"They died when I was six" Rebbecca replied, "all I know is that they were in the military".

Garnet sighed, when Rebbecca's request for transfer to the ODSTs came across his desk from his CO, he had to be given a briefing on her parents, specifically who and what they were. He was told that Rebbecca didn't know and frankly he had a hard time accepting her into his trainee team, due to her parents. There was still a lot of bad blood between Spartans and ODSTs.

"Sir, do you know something I don't?" Rebbecca asked.

"No, Corporal" Garnet said. "do you have any relatives off base?"

"Just an uncle" Rebbecca replied, "he's not technically my uncle, but he raised me after my parents died."

"I'm putting you on leave" Garnet said, "I suggest you go see this uncle of yours, cool off for a few days. No buts, soldier".

"Yes, sir" Rebbecca replied.

**

* * *

**

August 16, 2572

**location: Sol system, Earth- Chicago **

"Uncle Avery" Rebbecca called as she entered, "you in?"

"well, well, well. If it isn't my favorite helljumper" said Avery Johnson as he entered the foyer and gave Rebbecca a hug. "What's wrong this time?"

"I had another fight" Rebbecca said, "Sergeant Garnet _suggested_ I take some leave".

"Well you're always welcome here" Johnson said, "your room is just the way you left it".

"Even the bed?" Rebbecca asked.

"Your aunt is still trying to teach you a lesson in cleanliness" Johnson said as Rebbecca started up the steps. She let out a small chuckle as she arrived on the landing and walked into her old room. All of her possessions from when she was a kid were still laid out among the various shelves. Her bed was still a mess from when she was here last, ten months ago. Rebbecca set her duffel on the bed and went into the small bathroom connected to her room. She stripped down, entered the shower, hit the hot watter setting, undid her braided hair and let the water flow across her body. The hot water relaxed every muscle in her and after about ten minutes, she exited and donned a set of bed clothes. Rebbecca set the tint setting on her windows up to the max, completely opaquing them, then removed her duffel and plopped on the bed. Her arm wandered to a stuffed raccoon at the other end of the bed and she pulled it close. Even though Rebbecca was 19 years old she still loved that animal, that was a part of her she especially didn't want O'Brien finding out about, her soft interior. She fell asleep and dreamed about the last time she held the animal that close.

"_Rebbecca, honey" her mom said. "mommy and daddy have to leave for a little while, you're going to stay with uncle Avery until we get back"._

"_Why, mommy?" little Rebbecca said as she ran into her mother's arms, carrying her stuffed raccoon._

"_We have to go somewhere to help some of your daddy's friends" her mom explained. _

_Her father came in carrying two duffel bags toward the door. He set them down and took Rebbecca from her mother's arms. _

"_Listen, sweetie" he started. "I know you don't want us to go but I promise we're coming back. We can talk about our little trip that you wanted to take, just the two of us. You still need to pick a place to visit". _

"_I will, daddy" Rebbecca replied as she kissed her father's cheek. _

_He held her closer and whispered "I love you, Rebbecca". _

"_I love you too, daddy" Rebbecca replied. _

_When he set her down she noticed him wipe a tear away from his eye, then he walked over to uncle Avery who had just entered the house. Her mother came over and hugged her goodbye. Her father smiled at her before leaving the house with her mother._

"_You ready to go, squirt?" Johnson asked. "your aunt Jilan has been dying to see you"._

"_Yeah" Rebbecca replied as she held her raccoon close. _

_A couple of weeks later she was at her uncle's house playing a board game with her aunt when there was a knock at the door. Two men in white uniforms were standing outside when Johnson opened it. Her aunt went over and stood with Johnson as they talked with the Navy men. She leaned on him slightly and put a hand over her mouth. Johnson wrapped an arm around her aunt and the Navy men left. Her aunt was crying and Johnson had a saddened look on his face when they came into the living room. _

"_Rebbecca, we need to talk" he said._

_She sat next to her aunt on the couch while Johnson knelt in front of her and set a hand on her shoulder._

"_Rebbecca... your mommy and daddy aren't coming back"._

"_What are you talking about?" Rebbecca asked in an innocent voice. "daddy promised me, silly"._

"_Honey..." her aunt said but couldn't muster the words, neither could Johnson. Rebbecca realized they were telling the truth._

"_But he promised!" Rebbecca cried, her voice marked in sadness. She wrenched free of her aunt and ran upstairs to her room, grabbed her raccoon and cried into it. She felt a hand on her back and turned to see her uncle Avery standing over her._

"_It'll be ok" he said._

"_No, no, no" she cried, "he promised him and mommy were coming back"._

--

The next morning Rebbecca awoke at five in the morning and went downstairs to the kitchen to find Johnson already up and about.

"I thought you gave up the whole early to bed, late to rise thing?" Rebbecca asked.

"Your aunt has me adopting an alternative lifestyle" said Johnson.

Rebbecca got a glass of orange juice and sat down at the table with Johnson.

"Uncle Avery, I wanted to ask you about my parents" said Rebbecca.

"Your father told me never to bring this up" Johnson repeated, yet again. "every time you have that dream its always the next morning that you want to know what happened."

"Cut the bull, uncle" Rebbecca snapped, "I'm not a little girl anymore. I deserve to know."

Avery knew this was one battle that he couldn't put off and with Jilan out of the house he had no backup on this. But deep down he knew it was the time. "Follow me" he said as he took Rebbecca and sat her down on the couch. Johnson took one of the armchairs across from her and let out a sigh. Where to start he muttered. "Do you know about the Spartans?" he asked.

"Who hasn't herd of them" Rebbecca replied. "especially the Master Chief. What does this have to do... you're joking".

"I'm not" Johnson said, "both your mother and father were Spartans".

"Was he... the Chief?" Rebbecca asked.

"No, but he was a Chief Petty Officer" Johnson corrected. "The Spartans received certain biological and chemical enhancements to their bodies, and some of them were passed on to you. You don't have the strength or reinforced bones but your reflexes and eyesight are a bit more sharper. And your speed you get from Kelly. That's your mom's name".

Rebbecca realized that she didn't even remember her parent's real names, but she was six when she saw them last, after all. "What was my father's name?" she asked.

"Kyle" Johnson replied, "Kyle-091 or Kyle Stevens, that was his name before he came here".

"What do you mean 'came here'?" Rebbecca asked.

"I figured your father would give you the bogus story about being from Mars" said Johnson, "he's from Earth, just not our Earth".

"Could you get more confusing" Rebbecca snapped.

"I think I know the best way to clarify" said Johnson as he removed a data disk, hanging around his neck. He went over to a terminal and inserted the disk. The holographic projectors in the living room came on and a screen materialized in front of Johnson. It showed three different file folders, he accessed one and a text file appeared, called: disclosure. He rotated the holographic text to face her and let Rebbecca read. She read it over three times before understanding the dynamics.

"This is too weird" she said, "No way am I believing this".

"Its the truth, hell I had a hard time believing it when the Master Chief showed me" said Johnson, "this was originally meant for him but a series of events forced your father to reveal this to the other Spartans and eventually the UNSC security council".

"Tell me about them?" Rebbecca asked.

"I can only tell you what I know" Johnson said. "your father fought the Covenant throughout the entire war. Since he knew what was going to happen he tried to change events for the better, but time had the upper hand and most of the time it didn't work out. In fact I was supposed to die 19 years ago, during the final battle on Earth. He saved me".

Rebbecca was speechless.

"Now I don't know much about your father or mother but the Chief told me a bit about the two of them. They were friends from the get go when Kyle joined and Eventually it grew into something a little more. It happened during the final months of the Covenant war from what I understand. Your father had just been able to return to his Earth and Kelly came along for the ride. He actually was the one to send himself here in the first place".

"No way" Rebbecca said.

"He finally got the chance to say goodbye to his folks and he came back with Kelly. They hooked up after we rescued them from Reach. They and three other Spartans eventually ended up on a planet with Doctor Halsey and a secret group of Spartans. They were trapped there but were rescued by an old friend who Kyle managed to save years earlier by warning him of his fate. They all returned to Earth and participated in the battle when they technically weren't supposed to, according to Kyle's history. If I remember correctly that's also the time Kelly got pregnant with you".

"During the battle?" Rebbecca asked.

"She was pregnant through out the whole thing, they only found out toward the end and even then she continued to fight. Your father was wounded and almost died. He recovered and about three months later, Kelly gave birth to you. Both of them stayed in the Navy and took desk jobs so they could raise you, but it didn't work out".

"Uncle, what happened to them?" Rebbecca asked.

"I'll tell you all I know" Johnson replied, "where did it all start?"


	3. Chapter 2: where it all began

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**chapter 2: where it all started**

**May 15, 2559**

**location: unknown planet outside UNSC-Separatist controlled space**

"Blue-three, set the charges and fall back!" Spartan-104, Fred, said over the COM.

_Stand by, el-tee_ a smooth female voice replied.

"_Blue-one, I've got another wave of brutes moving in on our position"_ said Spartan-058, Linda, as she perched at the top of the structure with her rifle.

"Blue-three, the charges..." Fred started before a round of successive thuds shook his feet. Seconds later, blue-three ran across the hills at breakneck speed.

"Sorry about that, blue-one", Spartan-B091, Lucy replied.

"Get inside and reinforce Tom's position" Fred ordered as he and Linda began to lay detpacks at the entrance to the massive Forerunner complex hidden beneath the surface. Although they had arrived over a week ago, they only managed to explore a small fraction before the brutes showed up. That was two days ago. The cruiser they arrived on was forced to retreat after suffering crippling damage. Fred knew this was probably going to be Blue Team's last fight. After six years together, he began reminiscing on the team he'd forged in that time. Lucy, and Tom were their only additions, both abandoned their SPI armor in favor of MJOLNIR early on, and even Lucy managed to overcome her mute state. They had been through quite a few battles, first cleaning up the remaining Covenant, then the three year rebellion, and finally when the remnants of the Covenant banded together and returned.

It was only a week ago when Doctor Halsey sent word to them aboard their ship and asked for their assistance, saying Spartans were necessary for the work she was doing. Upon coming to the facility, they set out trying to activate as many systems as possible. They didn't finish their work in time though.

The Spartan's cruiser was only able to send drop pods containing additional weapons, ammunition and supplies before retreating to summon aid. At first they were able to hold off the Covenant with their hit and run tactics. The brutes weren't willing to risk damaging any Forerunner relics by launching an all out attack. Now it seems they were willing to do just that. Fred could sea a line of blue wraith tanks rolling up, choppers and prowlers darting in between the cumbersome tanks.

"Fred, coming?" Linda asked as she finished with the last with the detpacks.

"Yeah" Fred replied as he followed Linda into the bowels of the structure. As soon as they reached the bottom of the ramp and turned the corner to safety, Fred sent the signal and the detpacks sealed the entrance.

"What exactly is the escape plan?" Tom asked as he left his position behind a heavy machine gun down from the central grav lift.

"What escape plan?" Fred asked jokingly.

"Sounds like it's going to be an interesting day" said Lucy as she packed up the heavy machine guns and sent them down the grav lift. The Spartans used some of their foaming explosive and sealed the main passageway to the already blocked exit. They rode the grav lift all the way to the bottom, where the main lab was located. Inside were only three other people, well two people and an elite. One was Doctor Cathrine Halsey, the second was Shane-A150, and the elite was Wighen' Lokkatmee, a friend of Shane, and Taloar's son.

"I take it repelling the brutes did not go well?" The elite asked.

"No, really, Wig?" Shane said as he prepared his plasma rifles.

"Doctor, now's the time to get that fancy defensive system operational" Fred said as the rest of his team began unpacking the machine guns.

"Lieutenant, as I explained earlier, there was only a slight chance I could get the defensive systems operational. Less, since you locked up the monitor of this facility."

"After you told me to, doctor" Fred retorted.

"Look, this isn't getting us anywhere" Shane said. "Doctor, tell them what you found."

--

On the upper lever, a massive wave of plasma crashed through the debris blocking the access ramp, emitted by a scarab positioned at the mouth of the tunnel. As soon as the rock and metals cooled, grunt squads were sent in first and inadvertently tripped the lotus anti-tank mines left by the retreating Spartans. After more grunts were sacrificed to ensure there were no more traps, the brutes finally descended with their blade tipped, grenade launchers at the ready.

Soon after, another creature descended, this time riding on an elaborate throne chair. Hovering next to him were a pair of miniature Forerunner sentinels, their targeting sensors flashing red beams everywhere around the prophet.

"Holy one" said the brute chieftain who escorted him. "Our patrols only know of a few demons that lurk in this facility, however the humans could have brought a more substantial force."

"Blasphemy!" the prophet cried. "One of the things the humans should have learned after joining forces with the Kig-Yar raiders is that information can be easily obtained and extracted. The humans only posses six demons, two of which no longer fight. The demons you saw are the only ones the humans have at their disposal. They cannot fight us when we are in great numbers, th human world Reach should have told you that."

"I did not mean any disrespect by my comments, prophet" the chieftain said. "I merely meant it as a precaution to yourself."

"It is wise you should ensure my safety, but these creatures deserve to die, and at my hand!"

The prophet activated his chair's fuel rod guns and also instructed his security sentinels to fire at the next blocked off passageway.

--

"Lieutenant, if we're gonna survive, it's the only way" Halsey said after pleading her case to Fred.

"You don't need to tell me twice, doctor" said Fred.

"Very well, I'll need a few minutes to prep" said Halsey as she returned to her computer.

Tom and Lucy had just finished with the heavy machine guns and had used their crates as improvised barriers at the entrance to the chamber. They gathered the rest of their supplies in the middle of the room where Halsey was set up, if her plan worked, then they'd probably need them.

"Over there" Halsey said to Shane who placed his hand on a set of holographic controls, causing part of the wall to slide away and revealing something Fred hadn't expected to see. Before him were two rows of Forerunner crystals, the same type found underneath Reach.

"There's an artificial field surrounding this room that's dampening the effects of the crystals, so disorientation shouldn't be a problem" Halsey said.

"Doctor, we have no idea where those things could take us" Fred said.

"Actually we do, apparently someone reset all the crystals to follow the same path used last by any crystal" said Halsey.

"You and I both know who was the last person to use that thing, and where it took them" Fred said.

"It's a risk, yes, but do you see any other way out?" Halsey asked.

"Just do i..."

Fred didn't get to finish as needler rounds began pelting Tom and Lucy's position. Both Spartans quickly returned fire, bullets flying everywhere. The room itself started to shake and Fred could only assume they were drilling through to punch through the ceiling.

"Doctor, do it!" Fred barked as he fired his assault rifle at the first wave of grunts.

"Lieutenant, there's a problem" Halsey said. "According to these logs... there was another crossover, after the one under Reach."

"When and where?" Fred asked as he reloaded his MA5C.

"I can't localize the exact position, but I believe it happened sometime six years ago" Halsey said.

"It doesn't matter, just prep the crystal" Fred said.

"Lieutenant, someone needs to index the remaining crystals" said Halsey, "we can't let the brutes gain control of this technology."

"We don't have enough time to do both, doctor!" Fred said.

"I'll stay behind, make sure the crystals are indexed" said a female voice.

"Are you sure?" Halsey asked.

Before she could reply, a plasma grenade landed at tome and Lucy's position and detonated, sending both Spartans into the opposite wall. Shane and Wig moved in front of the door and fired their plasma rifles while Linda brought Tom and Lucy to the center of the room.

"Doctor, get us out of here!" Fred barked.

Halsey didn't need to be told twice as she activated a program on her laptop that emitted a hypersonic tone. This in turn activated a crystal that she held and soon the whole room was filled with an intense white light.

--

"Prophet, it is safe for you to enter."

The prophet glided into the chamber, his sentinel protectors scanning the room for any threats. The doorway was charred black by the plasma grenade lobbed at the demon's position, however there was no sign of the demons or the Sangeili that was spotted with them.

"We shall locate the hole the cowardly demons have hid in" the chieftain decreed.

"It is of no consequence" said the prophet who had one of his sentinels retrieve an object off the floor. The small machine dropped the crystal into the prophet's waiting hands, and he slowly traced his fingers over it.

"I think we have more than we ever hoped to find among the relics" the prophet said.

**

* * *

**

May 17, 2559

**location: Sol system, Earth, North America- Camp Hayes**

"ten, nine, eight, seven..."

Private Garnet rushed to assemble his MA5B assault rifle before his instructor's countdown reached zero. He'd just enrolled in basic training three weeks ago in hopes of graduating and applying to the elite ODST division.

"Two, one, zero! Time's up, weapons at the ready!"

Garnet held his assembled and loaded MA5B at the ready as his instructor came by and inspected each trainee's rifles. When his instructor arrived at Garnet's station, he had a smile on his face.

"Private, do you believe that weapon is ready to fire?" He asked.

"Yes, sir, Chief" Garnet replied.

His instructor pushed the rifle in Garnet's hands towards the other recruit at Garnet's station.

"Then fire your weapon" he ordered.

Garnet was bewildered by his instructor's order, as was the other recruit at his station.

"I said fire your weapon" his instructor ordered again.

When Garnet just stood there a second time, the instructor snatched the weapon out of the marine's hands, pointed it at him, and pulled the trigger. When nothing happened, Garnet nearly lost his lunch, but was otherwise relieved. However this was replaced with fear as he realized there was something wrong with his weapon, and wondered what his instructor would do to him.

"Private, this weapon's logistics card is inserted wrong. The electronic selector switch will remain on safe" he said. "Next time, get it right."

"Yes, sir" Garnet replied.

"Dismissed!" the instructor cried.

Garnet was quickly joined by his two friends in basic, privates Bisinetti and Nash.

"Man, Chief's got it in for you" Nash commented.

"Wonder why he's such a hard ass?" Said Bisinetti.

"I herd he was in the war" Garnet said.

"He was probably stuck here training fresh meat for the grinder" Nash said.

"Maybe" Garnet muttered as he left the pair.

"Wait, where are you going?" Nash asked.

"To ask him" Garnet replied.

"Please, the Chief serving in the war is about as likely as him being a Spartan. The guy's a swabbie after all" said Bisinetti.

Garnet ignored them and followed the instructor as he left the prep room, presumably to head to his office. Garnet managed to catch up with him in the hall.

"Chief Stevens, sir."

The Chief spun around and faced the private. "Something I can help you with?" He asked.

"Sir, I wanted to ask you a question. Did you serve in the Covenant war?"

The Chief stood at him for only a few seconds before answering yes. He left Garnet in the corridor and quickly proceeded to his office.

Upon entering, Chief Petty Officer Kyle-091 leaned up against the door. Six years, in six years at this job he hadn't been questioned one about his past. Thankfully there was only another week left in basic before the trainees were to be shipped off. Kyle slowly returned to his desk and began to catch up on some paper work. When he was offered the job as a drill instructor six years ago, he almost refused the position. But then he had to take into account his newborn daughter who didn't need to be raised by combat soldiers, and the fact he'd retain his Navy benefits if he just got a desk job. So here he was, six years later, training new Marine recruits.

Suddenly, his computer booted up and it displayed an incoming call. Kyle activated the display and the video conference started.

Hey Kyle said.

"_Hey yourself"_ the woman on the other end replied. "_Listen, it's gonna be another long day here. If you can, could you take off early to meet Rebbecca at the house?"_

Yeah, no problem, is everything ok? Kyle asked.

"_You know, same old stuff."_

The feed was terminated, and Kyle double checked his watch. He had thirty minutes before his daughter would be dropped off, just enough time to get home. Kyle quickly put all his papers and flexi pads into his briefcase, and left his office.

Arriving in the parking lot outside the training grounds, Kyle located his personal warthog. It was one of the newer civilian models complete with full roof and seating for four. Kyle got inside, depressed his thumb on the recognition pad, and started the engine.


	4. Chapter 3: veteran's day

**message from the general:** ok folks, this might be the last chapter for about a week since I'm in Los Angeles on vacation, and writing isn't exactly a priority

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**Chapter 3: veteran's day **

**May 17, 2559**

**location: North America, just outside Camp Hayes**

Kyle drove his personal hog up access road 39 to where his house was located, off base in a quiet suburb. The trees were in full bloom as Kyle road through the rows of houses until he came to a street that had a few houses, taking a left on a small road he drove for a minute up his driveway and parked in front of his quaint, two story home. He grabbed his briefcase and secured the warthog before proceeding inside, the door merely required a thumb print to unlock and Kyle was inside. He tossed the briefcase on a chair and unbuttoned the top of his uniform. There were very few pictures of any family on the wall, mainly because Kyle had none. Most of the photos were in the kitchen, but there was one on the wall. A shot of Kyle at Kelly's bedside as she cradled their daughter Rebbecca, it was taken only a few hours after she was born. Upstairs was Kyle and Kelly's bedroom along with Rebbecca's. Downstairs had the living room, dining room and a study that Kelly claimed as her workspace. They both stayed in the Navy after Rebbecca was born and took desk jobs so they'd have the time to raise her. Kyle started off as a DI and when Rebbecca was old enough to start school, Kelly was able to return to duty and was given a job troubleshooting black ops at HIGHCOM in Sydney. She took the daily courier pelican out of Camp Hayes to Sydney and back again in the evening. A few times she pulled an overnighter and rarely told Kyle about her work.

After checking around the house, Kyle slipped out the side door and over to a large shed, he submitted to a retina scan before the door, which was actually several feet thick, swung open for him. The inside resembled a high tech starship armory, the floor, ceiling and walls were made of stainless steel and the ceiling lights snapped on as Kyle entered and the door automatically shut when it confirmed his presence inside. There were a couple of work benches and a small desk in the corner, this was Kyle's home office. A few pictures of the Spartans in combat hung on the wall, Kyle was in a few of them, but no outsider could tell due to the identical sets of MJOLNIR armor they wore. On his desk was a terminal, a few cluttered papers and two more photos, one was a cropped copy of a picture Kyle kept in his old wallet. His original family from his Earth. The other was of Kyle, Kelly, John and Sam after Kyle was in the hospital for injuries inflicted by rogue ODSTs. He activated the terminal and connected it to the home network, news vids flashed across the screen as Kyle continued on. There were various pieces of equipment and tools on the benches. Two large lockers were built into the far wall, Kyle opened them and inside were two pristine sets of MJOLNIR mark V armor. One set used to be Kelly's and the other was Kyle's, he managed to get a hold of them before they were scheduled to be destroyed, due to them being obsolete. He spent some of his free time over the past few years fixing up the armor, upgrading them with newer components. Technically, both sets of armor were ready to go on a moment's notice, should they ever need them. But Kyle wasn't planning on using them, fixing them was just a hobby.

He and Kelly were tired of fighting and just wanted a quiet life with their daughter. Kyle kept his past secret from his own daughter because he didn't want her to be a soldier when she grew up, all she knew was that they were in the Navy, and Kyle wanted it that way. A beeping sound from his computer indicated the motion sensor at the end of the driveway had been tripped, and Kyle knew who it was. He left his workshop in time to see a little girl walk up the driveway. She had light brown hair and her schoolbag around her shoulder came loose as she went running over to Kyle.

"Daddy!" She said as Kyle scooped her into his arms.

"Hello, pumpkin" Kyle said as he set his daughter down. "How was school?"

"We did math problems today" Rebbecca said as she retrieved her bag and followed Kyle back inside the house. "Is mommy going to be late again?"

"It all depends if mommy's friends need her to stay a little longer" Kyle replied as he assisted Rebbecca in removing her shoes. She ran off for her room to play with her toys or to watch a show on the vid monitor.

"Don't run off for too long" Kyle called up the stairs, "dinner is going to be up soon". He turned his attention to the stove in the kitchen, a broth he mixed up this morning was almost done. Kyle did most of the cooking around the house, a trait he inherited from his mother. Kyle herd the front door open, then close, followed by the voice of Kelly.

"Smells good" she said as she entered the kitchen and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "as always".

"You know me" Kyle said. He also noticed her shrug a bit. "rough day at work?"

"You could say that" Kelly said as she retreated to her study, laptop in hand. The timer on the stove went off, signaling the broth was ready, he cut up a few vegetables and dumped them in, stirred the contents then began to spoon some into a pair of bowls.

"Rebbecca, dinner" Kyle called up the stairs.

--

An hour later, Kyle entered Kelly's study with a bowl of the broth, just reheated. She was hard at work, nights like this were common in the household. Kelly was first and foremost a mother and would set aside her work to spend time with her daughter, but lately she was cooped up in her office most of the time.

"Thanks" she said as she reclined back in her chair. Kyle came up behind her and grasped her shoulders, rubbing his thumbs into her upper back and neck to relax her a little.

"That feels good" she said.

"You looked like you needed it" Kyle said, "was it that bad?"

"Three civilians and five insurrectionists, dead" Kelly said. "One ODST WIA. It was a bad op from the beginning".

"Don't beat yourself up over it" Kyle said as he sat down in an armchair against the wall.

"Sometimes I'm just grateful I have you and Rebbecca to escape to when I'm not cooped up in HIGHCOM".

"She's really taking after you" Kyle said. "I've herd from her teachers she's a fast one during recess".

"She's also determined" Kelly said. "Like you. I've also herd she doesn't have that many friends, I hate to see her so lonely."

"Me too" Kyle said. Kelly had just brought up a topic that Kyle wanted to talk to her about for some time, finding company for Rebbecca. "Kelly, did you ever think about... having another kid?"

She looked up from her dinner, a strange look on her face as she assimilated Kyle's question. "I could always picture a younger brother or sister for Rebbecca, but having a kid at my age?"

"You remember what the doctor said, there was no problem with you having one at 42 . We're still biologically in our thirties. Or is it something else you're worried about?"

"I'm just worried about what happened the last time" Kelly said.

"Hey" Kyle said softly as he knelt in front of Kelly and took her hands in his. "Nothing like that will ever happen, Ackerson is still in prison and they confirmed he was the only one involved. I'm here this time, no one will ever take Rebbecca from us".

Kelly smiled a bit, "then lets do it".

"Wait, you serious?" Kyle asked.

Kelly nodded, her face a glow with happiness, "I want to have another baby, Kyle".

Kyle rushed her and pulled her into a hug, while she was still seated in her chair. He moved back again and prepared to kiss her, but the door chime went off.

"better get that" Kelly whispered in his ear. Kyle reluctantly left for the door, when he reached it and opened it, he was surprised at who was standing on the other side. He immediately snapped to and saluted.

"Admiral, sir" Kyle said, standing in front of him was Lord Hood.

"At ease, son" Hood said. "may I come in?"

"Of course, sir" Kyle said as he moved to allow the fleet admiral in, he noticed a small motorcade parked in his driveway. Hood sat down on one of the arm chairs in the living room.

"How have you been, Chief?"

"Fine, sir" Kyle replied.

"Look, I'm going to get right down to it. Something has happened, and now I need some Spartans to take care of it".

"Sir, with all due respect, I'm retired from field duty, I believe you remember that I have a daugh...". No sooner had he said that, Rebbecca bounded into the room, Kelly hot in pursuit.

"Admiral, sir" Kelly said as she saluted quickly and then grabbed Rebbecca's arm. "Honey, you know you aren't supposed to walk in on daddy like that, he's trying to talk to someone important".

"I only wanted to see who came in" Rebbecca said as Kelly ushered her away and back upstairs. Kyle looked back at Hood, who had a smile on his face.

"Sweet girl" hood said, "she must be a bundle to control".

"We manage, sir" said Kyle, "which is why I can't do this. I have a daughter to raise".

"Chief, I wouldn't be here if I didn't need both of you" said Hood.

"Sir, please don't involve her in this" Kyle said.

"I'm sorry son, but I need both of you. You're the last Spartans".

"Sir, what about Blue Team?" Kyle asked, before he got a sinking feeling that something happened.

"They're the mission, we've lost contact with them. Their ship returned a day ago, heavily damaged".

"What was their mission?" Kyle asked.

"Can't divulge it, Chief" Hood said, "I can give you the mission details if you agree to sign on. I understand you and Kelly have a daughter, this mission isn't without risks and I wouldn't be here if I didn't have another option. But this mission needs Spartans, and there are only two left that know can carry out this mission. Its entirely up to you and her, Chief".

--

"are you actually considering this?" Kelly asked.

"This Fred and Linda we're talking about" Kyle said, "how many times have they laid their lives on the line for us?"

Kyle and Kelly were having their argument in Kelly's study, after they put Rebbecca to bed. Kyle and Kelly were both extremely torn between their friends for over 30 years or their own daughter. Hood didn't get into specifics about the mission but mentioned there was a risk, but they were Spartans after all, trained for risks.

"Kyle, I'm actually considering going" Kelly confessed. "I never told you but when Ackerson tried to take Rebbecca from us, Fred defied a direct order from him to assist, and ended up pulling a gun on him".

"We owe Blue Team too much to let them down" said Kyle. "I'm not going to lie to you, I want to go. But I think you should stay here".

"No way am I going to let you go it alone" Kelly protested. "We go together or not at all. We'll need to find someone to watch Rebbecca though, someone we can trust".

"I know who" Kyle replied, "when should we tell her?"

"In the morning" Kelly replied as she left to go to the bedroom. Kyle went over to her terminal and accessed the telecom system, dialed a number in Chicago and a second later, the face of retired Sergeant Major Avery Johnson appeared on the screen.

"Avery, how are you?"

"_Fine, Chief. What's up?"_

"Me and Kelly have been asked by Lord Hood to take part in a rescue mission, I can't say much. I know you and Jilan have watched Rebbecca before so I wanted..."

"_say no more"_ Johnson interrupted, "_I'll look after her, when do want me to swing by?"_

"Tomorrow morning" Kyle replied.

"_I'll be there, I better tell Jilan to get the spare room ready"._ The screen winked off and Kyle left the study, bounded up the stairs and walked the short distance to his bedroom. But he stopped halfway as he passed his daughter's ajar door. Kyle slowly entered her dark room, catching sight of her under the covers. He gently sat down on the bed and watched her. Raising Rebbecca was the highest point in his life, he loved Rebbecca too much to have to leave her, even for a few weeks. He looked away for a moment and took a deep breath to try and stave off a couple of gathering tears.

"Daddy?" A soft voice from behind him asked. Kyle turned his head to see Rebbecca was sitting up in bed. "Why do you look so sad?"

"Its nothing, sweetheart" Kyle replied, "some of daddy's friends had an accident, and me and mommy may have to go help them out".

"But I want you to stay here, daddy" Rebbecca said as she hugged her father. Kyle's eyes started to tear up as he held his daughter close.

"Go to sleep, honey" Kyle whispered to her.

Rebbecca let go and clambered back under her covers. Kyle left and went into his bedroom, Kelly was in bed so Kyle stripped down to his underwear and climbed in next to her. Kelly sensed Kyle so she rolled over to face him, Kyle saw her eyes glistened with tears. She moved closer and grabbed Kyle in a hug.

**

* * *

**

May 18, 2559

**location: North America, Kyle's home**

Kyle quickly stuffed some of his and Kelly's clothes into a pair of duffel bags. All they were really allowed to bring, everything else would be provided for them. He looked out the window in time to see Avery's car pull up. Kyle grabbed the bags and went downstairs, Rebbecca was already up and dressed, she was being held by Kelly who was explaining the situation. He saw the look on her face so he set the bags down by the door, went over and took Rebbecca from Kelly's arms.

"Listen, sweetie" he started, "I know you don't want us to go but I promise we're coming back. We can talk about our little trip that you wanted to take, just the two of us. You still need to pick a place to visit". Kyle had promised her this trip for her birthday, she'd asked for an adventure so Kyle promised her one when he had leave, which actually was in two weeks.

"I will, daddy" Rebbecca replied as she kissed her father's cheek.

He held her closer and whispered "I love you, Rebbecca".

"I love you too, daddy" Rebbecca replied.

Kyle noticed Johnson had entered so he set Rebbecca down, then paused for a moment to wipe a tear out of his eye before walking over to Johnson.

"Avery, here" Kyle said as he handed him an access card. "Its the key to my safe in my office on Camp Hayes. Inside is my will and a few things for Rebbecca for when she's older. If either of us don't make it back..."

"I'll hold onto to it" Johnson said as he took the card, "but only because I plan on giving it back to you, in person".

"Thanks, Avery" Kyle said as he turned back to Kelly, she was hugging Rebbecca goodbye. Kyle grabbed the bags and smiled at his daughter before leaving the house. They hid along the side until Avery had taken Rebbecca and driven off. Several military vehicles rolled up and armed MPs got out.

"Chief" a private said as he saluted, "we're under orders to take you immediately to the base for dustoff".

"Private, I have some equipment in my shed I want transported up, you'll know which".

"Yes, sir" the private said, he signaled two other marines to go over to the shed, which Kyle unlocked by remote. He and Kelly got in one of the unmarked transport cars, normally reserved for VIPs. The marines began loading the equipment as the car carrying Kyle and Kelly, sped out onto the road.


	5. Chapter 4: reunion tour

**To my anonymous reviewers: **you guys should really consider getting accounts on the site because I would really like to respond to your questions but I can't.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine though**

**chapter 4: reunion tour**

**May 17, 2559 **

**location: Sol system, Earth, North America- UNSC Camp Hayes **

They sat in silence throughout the car ride over and only talked when asked a security question by the guards who screened them, prior to allowing them into the transport terminal. It was nothing more than a building with a few gates that led outside to waiting pelicans. Kyle had never been through here but Kelly made her way through the terminal each day to catch the flight to Sydney. They were walking to the private gate at the far end of the terminal when Kyle bumped into a woman with vibrant brown hair done up in a long braid, and a curious insignia on her uniform, a pair of crossed knives.

"Excuse me" she said as she continued on.

Kelly shot a curious look at her as she walked away, but continued on with Kyle. They reached the high security terminal, were processed again, then taken outside and onto their waiting pelican. They strapped in and Kelly took Kyle's hand as the pelican broke the atmosphere and glided through space. Out of the porthole, Kyle could see a _remembrance_ class cruiser docked in one of the space docks, parts of its hull glowed red from damage caused by Covenant plasma weapons. _Remembrance _class were the toughest new ship being cranked out, it must have taken quite a few ships to cause that kind of damage. The pelican zoomed past and up to Cairo station in high orbit. The pelican docked and Kyle and Kelly disembarked. Waiting for them was Lord Hood as they got off the ramp, they saluted him and afterwards he brought them to a conference room.

"Here's what we know" Hood said as a picture of a planet appeared on the display. "Blue team aboard the cruiser _Ark Angel _arrived at this planet after getting a message from Doctor Halsey and your friend Shane. They'd apparently found some kind of Forerunner technology down there but Spartan-104 deemed it sensitive so he only told one other person. The _Ark Angel's_ Captain, Miranda Keyes.

"What did she say it was?" Kelly asked.

"The Covenant loyalists arrived shortly after and managed to damage the _Ark Angel_. I believe you passed her on your way up. Keyes was injured in the attack and is in a coma. The doctors say she not liable to regain consciousness any time soon and she's bound to suffer some kind of short term amnesia. We're flying in blind on this one."

"What kind of support are we going to get?" Kyle asked.

That would be me said a voice from behind them. Kyle and Kelly spun around and snapped to as a young Navy Officer entered, he couldn't have been any older than thirty.

"I'm Commander Wallace Verdi" he said, "Captain of the light frigate _Razor's Edge."_

"Your father wouldn't happen to be..." Kyle started to ask

"Captain Maribeau Verdi, the same one who made contact with the Covenant, yes he would be."

"So, I take it the only support we're gonna get is the commander's frigate?" Kyle asked Hood.

"Yes, but the _Edge_ isn't a normal frigate, she's from an older design we tried about 22 years ago, she has ablative baffles, reflective titanium-A and a specialized reactor designed to reduce exhaust emissions" Hood explained.

"A stealth frigate" Veredi chimed in. "All the qualities of a prowler but with heavier firepower."

"Well I'd say our odds went up a bit even though we're using an outdated design" Kyle commented.

"Its still a long shot" said Kelly, "did you see these reports?" She was holding a datapad that had the enemy troop figures. "We're gonna need a lot more than a stealth frigate to get through all this."

Another NCO arrived and whispered in Lord Hood's ear for a moment before leaving.

"Chief, you want to explain why my people are unloading a pair of MJOLNIR mark Vs on the hangar?" Hood asked.

"They're our old sets, sir" Kyle explained, "they've been upgraded with all the mark VI specs and are as good as any of them."

"Chief, we already have two sets of mark VI fabricated and ready for you to use" said Hood.

"Did you say two?" Kyle asked.

"Yes" Hood replied.

"Admiral, I think I can get us a couple extra Spartans" said Kyle.

Even Kelly was curious to what Kyle was talking about in addition to Veredi and Hood.

"Chief, aside from those ones in cryo there are no more" said Hood.

"Yes there are, sir. Both are still alive and are in the Navy reserve listing. That's probably why any initial searches would come up negative. With your permission I'd like to look these two up."

"Permission granted, Chief" said Hood, "do what ever you need, but remember you ship out at 2200 hours tonight."

"Sir, also with your permission, I'd like it if you could talk to med corps to see if they'll green-light an experimental procedure, it's risky though."

"I'll see if I can pull a few strings" said Hood, "but I'm gonna need some specifics here."

**

* * *

**

May 17, 2559

**location: UNSC medical station m25-L**

Spartan-022, Cassandra, slowly lifted her 200 lbs weight on a bench press as her physical trainer spotted her.

"Thirty-eight, thirty nine, forty" the trainer said, "you're done."

"I used to be able to do 100" Cassandra said as she sat up and scratched her hair implants, even though it was her natural hair color, it was straight and lacked the natural curls her old hair had, but it beat the scarred skin of her head. The doctors said during her recovery it would be unlikely that her old hair would grow back due to all the skin grafts she needed. Thankfully, her face was exactly the way she remembered, but she bore some scars from her grafts and many surgeries.

"Look at it this way" said her trainer, "you've recovered faster than any other patient I've seen, hell, you're the only person to survive those kinds of injuries."

"I don't know how you'd call this surviving" Cassandra said, "I can't do any of the stuff I used to do."

"We have to take it easy, remember, it's only because of our new medical technology that you're even here."

Cassandra remembered that all too well, when UNSC medical had managed to stabilize her, they froze her until the technology could be developed where she might be able to recover from her horrific injuries. She was stuck in cryo for six years before they were able to develop the tech to heal her. They said it would only be another six months before her recovery would be more or less complete. She wouldn't have most of the strength or other abilities like she did before, but they would still be higher than a normal human.

"I'll be right back, I suggest you wait a few minutes before doing any bench presses" her trainer said as he left the room. Cassandra waited until he had left before resuming the bench presses, she would prove that she still had some of her heavy Spartan endurance. As she lifted her weight for a fourth time, a familiar face appeared over her.

"You know it isn't a good idea to lift weights without a spotter" Kyle said.

Cassandra put the weights back and immediately sat up.

"Kyle!?" She said in surprise as she quickly gave him a hug.

"Wow, good to see you too", Cassie Kyle replied.

"I herd you and Kelly got yourselves a kid now, congrats are in order, even if they are a bit belated."

Thanks, and I'm sorry about not coming to see you here sooner" Kyle said.

"No problem, you're here now" Cassandra said as she got her towel off of a nearby bench and began wiping off the sweat on her body.

"That's the thing, I'm here on business" Kyle said.

"Oh?" Cassandra asked.

"What if I could get you back into the program" Kyle said, "back into the fight, like old times?"

"Kyle... don't get me wrong, I'd love to. But I'm not the same person I was 15 years ago" Cassandra said. "Besides, my doctors wouldn't release me even if I wanted to go."

"I can have them clear you for duty" Kyle said.

"Why exactly do you need me anyway?" Cassandra asked.

"It's a rescue mission, for Blue Team."

Cassandra didn't say anything for a few moments, now that she knew the mission, part of her told her to accept.

"What happened to them?" She asked.

"I'm not allowed to tell you anymore unless you sign on" Kyle said. "Please Cassie, we all the help we can get."

--

The last hour was probably the quickest in Cassandra's life, her whole life had changed from being stuck in a hospital to going back to what she knew best, combat. She currently sat with Kyle in a pelican on their way to Cairo Station. She'd signed all the important forms and wavers on the ride over, effectively reinstating her in the Spartan program with the new rank of Petty Officer First Class. Whatever this was, it was a big op, because her reinstatement orders were signed my Admiral Hood himself.

Kyle finally gave her the briefing packet and she was quickly brought up to speed on the mission just as the pelican docked, and she was led to a conference room where Kyle gave her the rest of the specifics.

"So what you're saying is that we're going to face off against a large number of Covenant in only an outdated stealth frigate?" Cassandra asked.

"Pretty much" Kyle replied.

Cassandra slumped back in her seat and said "what have I gotten myself into, its practically a suicide mission."

"Since when did you become a pessimist?" Kyle asked.

"I gave up on looking on the brighter side a long time ago, Kyle" Cassandra said.

"I'm sorry about what happened, I really am" Kyle said.

"Don't, what happened has happened. I'm still glad I'm getting a second shot at being a Spartan" Cassandra said.

"Wow, I never thought I'd end up in a room with you two" said a voice from the door. Kyle and Cassandra spun around and came face to face with none other than Spartan-062, Maria. Accompanied by Kelly, she was dressed in civilian clothes, still being retired from any duty.

"What exactly are you up to here?" Cassandra asked.

"You remember how you said you'd like a reunion tour with me in command?" Kyle asked.

Maria began to chuckle a bit, "you're serious, right?" She asked.

"I am" Kyle said as he stood up, Cassandra doing the same. "You guys in?" He placed his hand forward and was soon joined by Cassandra and Maria.

"Team Omega it is" Cassandra said.

"You in?" Kyle asked Kelly.

"Lets do it" she replied as she placed her hand in the middle, effectively making her a member of the team.

**

* * *

**

May 18, 2559

**location: UNSC _Razor's Edge_ in slipspace**

Kyle and the newly reformed Team Omega sat in the armory of the frigate, going over the equipment package that had been loaded on board at Cairo station. There were weapons of all kinds from the various pistols of the M6 series, all the way up to a Spartan laser. Even with the new slipspace drives given to them by the elites, it would still be another day until they would arrive at the planet.

Kelly slipped into the back room to inspect their armor which was being stored in crates, when she noticed something strange. While there were four Spartans on the team, there were five crates, two were marked as mark fives, while there were three mark sixes. Kelly left the room and returned to the armory, catching Kyle and Cassandra in the middle of a conversation with Maria.

"So how exactly did they cure your heart condition?" Cassandra asked.

"It involved cloning a new heart with stem cells, that way it wouldn't have the condition. The real tricky part was making sure I didn't reject the new one since it doesn't have my DNA" Maria explained.

"Well it'll be nice to have most of the team at one-hundred percent" Cassandra said.

"Again with the weakling talk?" Maria asked her.

"Cassie, you're just as strong as any of us when you're in MJOLNIR" Kyle said.

"Kyle, we need to talk" Kelly said as she grabbed his arm and yanked him into the back room.

"Two guess as to what those two are doing" Maria said.

Cassandra simply chuckled.

--

After showing the extra set of armor to him, Kyle had Kelly follow him down to the infirmary where one of the surgical theaters was active. When they arrived at the observation window, Kelly was dumbfounded at what she was seeing. In the middle of the room was a cryotube containing Spartan-043, Will.

"Why?" Kelly asked Kyle.

"I figured knowing the circumstances, he would have wanted to come, Linda's at risk here" Kyle explained.

"You're gonna try that thing that Maria was talking about, the heart transplant?"

"Yes" Kyle replied, "his odds of success and recovery are a lot higher than it was with Maria."

"How did you even get permission to move him?" I would have thought you'd need Linda's consent.

"Linda said to me when he was iced that if anything happened to her, I should be placed in charge of Will's care" Kyle said. "Its all documented."

--

Later that night, Kelly was lying next to Kyle in their quarters, trying to get some sleep. She was preoccupied with the small photograph in her fingers. It was the most recent school photo of Rebbecca, she managed to find a copy right before they left. The picture was starting to look aged as Kelly found herself looking at it more often, even though it had only been two days since she left her daughter on Earth.

"I miss her too" Kyle said from behind her as he leaned over her shoulder to look at what she was holding.

"We shouldn't be doing this" Kelly said, "this isn't what we agreed, we were supposed to leave it all behind, all the fighting and war."

"We're doing this to make sure she never has to experience that, to rescue the people who are trying to keep the war away from our doorstep" Kyle said.

"Who says it's going to stop there, Lord Hood and ONI will try and draft us for more missions. We finally caved this time" Kelly replied.

Kyle remembered when ONI attempted to request them both to participate in missions more than a dozen times over the past six years, and all those times he flat out denied them. Suddenly, the door chime went off and Kyle scrambled out of bed, pulling on a shirt and walking over to the door. When he opened it, a brown haired female Ensign stood waiting for him.

"Chief, Commander Veredi needs you on the bridge ASAP" she said before leaving.

Kyle turned back to Kelly and said, "stay here", before dressing in pants and heading out into the corridor. He reached the lift and punched in the bridge, inside of a minute he was whisked to the top of the frigate and exited. The Captain was seated in the middle of the circular bridge, the viewscreen in front of him was black with the empty void of slipspace.

"Chief, you're not going to believe this but we're picking up a distress call" Veredi said.

"From _inside_ slipspace?" Kyle asked.

"We detected the signal approximately ten minutes ago" said the COM Officer from his station, "it's very faint and badly garbled. Whoever sent it was requesting assistance, and the voice sounded fairly human."

"I've decided to stop and investigate" Veredi said, "this could be a genuine distress call or it could simply be an old message that somehow found its way into slipspace, piggybacked on EM waves. Either way I think it's worth diverting for an hour."

"Sir, with all due respect, an hour could cost Blue Team their lives" Kyle said.

"Your objection is noted, Spartan, now stand-by for transition."

Kyle grabbed onto the railing that went around the inner track of the bridge and watched as the space on the viewer was warped and filled with stars, including a large orange one, presumably the central star in this system.

"Position report" Veredi asked his NAV Officer.

"Sir, we're in an ST-type star system, it's never been charted before."

"I'm not surprised, this is way past the border" Veredi commented.

"Sir, I'm getting some weird readings from inside this system, particularly near an asteroid belt about 500,000 kilometers away" said the NAV Officer.

"Lay in a course" said Veredi.

Kyle felt the frigate accelerate in-system as the sublights kicked in. this mission was a huge waste of time, time that Blue Team just doesn't have.

"Sir, sensors are picking up a large echo at extreme range" the tactical officer said.

"Can you identify?" Veredi asked.

"We're too far out for a clear silhouette" she replied, "wait... it just disappeared".

"Run that by me again" Veredi said.

"Sir, the contact just disappeared off my screen... wait, it's back again. No, it's smaller, and off our starboard."

Veredi hit a couple keys on his armchair and the viewscreen switched to the starboard cameras. Sitting there as it shimmered out of the dark, running lights illuminating it's hull, was an alien craft.

"Kig-Yar raider to starboard!" the NAV Officer cried, "there's another off of port too!"

"Jackals, it's a trap!" Kyle said.

"Battlestations!" Veredi cried.

The lighting on the bridge changed to it's red format and Kyle grabbed onto the railing as the first waves of plasma collided with the _Razor's Edge's_ hull.


	6. Chapter 5: past and present

**Message from the general: **we were off to such a great start in terms of reviews, what happened? I don't want to have to enforce a 'no review, no new chapter' policy, so try and improve upon the reviewing my readers.

And watch out for an important message in the middle of the chapter.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**chapter 5: past and present**

**May 18, 2559**

**location: uncharted system outside UNSC space**

"Captain. Wake up. Something has happened."

Captain James Cutter slowly commanded his aching body to haul itself out of the cryo tube, and onto the deck. He stretched his back for a moment before locating a locker containing his uniform, and quickly donned it. As soon as he got his cap, and sidearm secured, he turned to face Serina as she materialized on the holopad.

"Report?" He asked.

"Captain, a few minutes ago one of my automated subroutines revived me from deep stand by after our sensors detected a ship approaching."

"What kind of ship?"

"Silhouette was unknown. However, my sensors also detected a UNSC transponder emanating from the ship."

"Did you try and make contact?" Cutter asked.

"Negative, their transponder codes didn't match any registered vessel in my database. I aired on the side of caution and backed us away from their scanners" the AI replied.

By this time Cutter was on his way to the bride along with whatever command crew Serina had woken. When he arrived on the bridge, the long dormant consoles came to life and returned the bridge to it's usual activity. Cutter took his seat along with the bridge crew as they began activating systems.

"Serina, I want professor Anders woken and brought up here on the double" Cutter ordered.

"Captain, the professor is a civilian and therefore isn't on the priority list for revivals" the AI objected.

"Serina, I don't want excuses, just get her thawed and up here. I also want our ODSTs and those three Spartans up ASAP. Have Sergeant Forge prepare..." Cutter quickly corrected his error, "have Spartan-042 head up assembling a security detail."

"Expecting some kind of trouble?" Serina asked

"Like you said, I'm airing on the side of caution" Cutter replied.

--

Kyle braced himself as another salvo of plasma struck their frigate, since their hull was designed for stealth rather than defense, the titanium-A was quickly being boiled away, exposing the _Edge's_ vulnerable inner hull.

"Evasive starboard, full military thrust!" Veredi barked. "Weapons, release safeties on all aft archer pods and prepare to fire rows K through N."

"Targeting solution calculated the tactical officer" replied.

"Full military thrust" the NAV Officer reported.

As soon as the frigate began to veer away, exposing it's backside to one of the jackal ships, the Commander barked "fire!" Kyle felts the concussive thuds as four archer pods were depleted and their missiles sent at the jackals.

"Helm swing us back around and point our nose at that ship. Weapons, activate ECM and get a targeting solution for the MAC, target rows B through D at the second jackal ship. Jackal ships aren't heavily armored" he told Kyle, "or well maintained for that matter, we should be able to cripple and hopefully gut that ship with a single slug."

"Capacitors at one hundred percent" the tactical officer cried.

"Fire!" Veredi barked.

Kyle felt an even bigger thud beneath his feet as a tungsten-uranium slug was propelled at the wounded jackal ship, cutting through what shielding they had left and puncturing the hull. At the same time, the _Razor's Edge_ fired her forward missile pods at the remaining jackal ship.

"One down, one to go" Veredi said. "Weapons, get another targeting solution for the MAC on the second jackal ship and stand by to fire..."

"Incoming ordnance!" The weapons officer cried.

Kyle once again had to brace himself as multiple plasma torpedoes began impacting the hull. This time the damage was more severe as a console exploded on the bridge and started a small fire, Kyle quickly dashed up, grabbed a fire extinguisher and began fighting the blaze before any of the crew could go into action, this however freed them to assess the damage.

"Report!" Veredi cried as the automatic extinguishing system kicked in and began spraying the blaze with fire suppressant.

"Sir, multiple plasma impacts to the hull, armor integrity is badly compromised. Decompressions in progress on decks 7, 11, 15 and 18. I can't get any response from deck 5 forward of frame thirty."

"That's because it isn't there" Kyle said as he glanced at a structural readout.

"What the hell did they hit us with?" Veredi asked.

"Sir, reading increased power output from the jackal ship, looks like they were fitted with an auxiliary reactor that allowed them to recycle their plasma faster" said the ops officer. "It looks like that boost has overtaxed their system though."

"Weapons status?"

"MAC coils refuse to re-align, sir" the weapons officer replied, none of the archer pods were damaged, but I'll need to reboot the targeting software.

"NAV, what are our options?"

"AI core has been overloaded, sublight is down and I can't get a response from the engine room, so assessing slipspace capacity is impossible."

"Our only choice is to stay and fight then" said Veredi, "we still have enough missiles to blow that jackal ship apart, stem to stern."

"Captain, multiple smaller craft approaching, several appear to have slipped by and are in contact with the hull" said the tactical officer.

"Alert the hangar bay, get our longswords in the air" Veredi ordered. "50 millimeter guns?"

"Manual control only."

"It'll have to do, pick your targets."

"Commander, I'm detecting an unauthorized access into the main computer said the ops officer, it's not coming from inside the ship. I've localized it to auxiliary interface port 17-B on the outer hull."

"The jackals, they must be trying to access the ship's systems" Kyle said. "If they get in, they could override our atmospheric safeties and vent our air into space."

"Leaving them to pick at what's left of our technology" Veredi said. "Spartan, assemble your men and deploy to the hull, stop those jackals. I'll send my ODSTs to stall them."

Kyle quickly bolted but the door and straight for the lift, hoping he'd still be in one piece when he reached the armory as he descended through the burning ship.

--

The moment Kelly felt the first impact, she knew the ship was under attack. She had just managed to make it to the armory when the barrage of plasma struck them, crippling the _Razor's Edge_. Maria and Cassandra had already donned their undersuits and were in the process of attaching their leg sections.

"No time for that" Kelly said as she ran to the middle of the room, pulled out her armor, and cleared a series of covers in the center of the armory. She quickly stripped down, donned and undersuit, and stood between two covers, arms outstretched as robotic arms began picking up her armor pieces and mating them to her body. Inside of five minutes she was armored up. As she reached for her helmet, Kyle suddenly bust through the door, his clothes covered in soot and torn in a couple places.

Kelly felt absolutely relieved he was safe and with her, and wanted to hug him, but knew this was neither the time nor place.

"Cassandra, you go next" he said pointing to the armor assembler. As she was being armored, Kyle changed into and undersuit and began to give the team a briefing.

"Long story short, jackals are trying to access the ship remotely from a junction on the hull" he explained. "Cassie, you're omega-three, you'll be with me and the ship's ODSTs on the hull. Kelly, you and Maria are omega-four and five, you'll be heading down to deck 16, we have boarders in the cargo bay and we need to keep them away from the infirmary."

"Yes, sir" Kelly said as she turned to gather an MA5C from the rack. Kyle stepped into the assembler next and was soon encased in his old mark five once again. Kyle turned to look at Kelly who also met his gaze.

_To hell with it_ Kyle thought as he crossed the room and kissed her before she could dawn her helmet. She returned the kiss, even though it lasted a full fifteen seconds before Kyle broke away.

"Stay safe" Kelly whispered to him.

"Same to you" Kyle replied.

Kelly drew her finger over Kyle's face in the shape of a Spartan smile before he finally put his helmet on, grabbed his gear and joined Cassandra in the corridor.

--

Captain Cutter watched from the bridge windows as small explosions lit the night between the two ships. One, a Covenant vessel of unknown design, and the other, a UNSC ship of unknown design.

"Sir, based on the UNSC ship's profile and estimation of tonnage, I'd classify her as some kind of frigate" said Serina. "But my scanners are having a hard time getting any kind of internal scan, I'd say her hull has been coated in some kind of reflective alloy similar to that of a prowler."

"A stealth frigate? Doesn't seem likely, the larger the ship the more stealth material needed" said Cutter. "Any response to our hails?"

"Negative, her COM arrays have most likely been damaged" said Serina. "I have intercepted a variety of shot range communication and it appears that jackals have boarded the outer hull of the ship and are attempting to access the ship's computer from the hull. Their AI must be down because they're sending troops to stop them."

"Serina, what's our weapon's status?" Cutter asked.

"The Chief engineer was successful in repairing most of our battle damage and deck guns. Our archer pods are still full, however the MAC gun will take thirty minutes before it is ready to fire."

"Sound battlestations, get the gun crews to their batteries and alert Red Team to prepare to deploy" Cutter ordered.

--

In the drop bay, Spartan-042, Douglas sat against the wall, twiddling an combat knife in his fingers. Next to him were Spartans 092, Jerome, and 130, Alice.

**(MFTG:** ok, rare to see one of these in the middle of the chapter, but I didn't want any spoilers. Anyway, to keep things more in line with cannon, Jerome will be using a regular sniper rifle instead of a Spartan laser since it was rather inconceivable that the laser was around in 2531, and this was most likely an exception on Ensemble Studios part in order to make Halo Wars more RTS. This however won't fly in my fic**)**

They had just been recently thawed from cryo, and all three had freezer burn from wearing their armor. They hadn't been giving so much as a briefing on what had happened, or if they had been rescued. They were told to report immediately to the drop bay and to wait for the ODSTs.

"_Red Team, this is Cutter"_ the captain's voice broke in, "_we're approaching a UNSC frigate that's under Covenant attack, we're deploying you directly onto the hull where they have boarders attempting to hack their main computer."_

"Understood, sir" Douglas replied. "We're not waiting for the ODSTs then, by the time they get suited up this battle will be over."

"_You'll have no backup"_ Cutter said.

"Wouldn't be the first time" Alice chimed in.

"_Understood, Red Team, prepare to drop."_

--

"Remember, short controlled bursts" Kyle said to his team consisting of Cassandra and five ODSTs, reinforcing the twenty that were already engaging the jackals. Cassandra's acknowledgment light winked on and he got a series of thumbs up from the helljumpers. Kyle hit the controls and the airlock doors opened. Kyle used the handholds to get out to the hull and quickly activated magnetization on his boots, instantly leveling him on the hull. As the rest of the team joined him, Kyle got Deja vu from the movie Star Trek: First Contact.

_Relax, it's not the Borg_ Kyle told himself.

He led the way as they approached parts of the hull where it was pounded by pulse lasers, creating excellent cover, and was already being used by the ODSTs engaging the jackals. Also with the bird like aliens were squatly grunts, who were known to be enslaved by both the brutes and jackals after the fall of the Covenant. Unlike the elites who treated the grunts more fairly since the fall. Inside one of the recessed areas of the hull sat a large device which was roughly an upside down cone with it's point sticking into the hull, most likely at the interface.

"Chief!" Cried one of the ODSTs, "we can't get close enough to the device, they deployed shades inside the pit."

"All we have to do is get close enough to some of those jackals and grunts, kill them and take their plasma grenades. Then all we need to do is lob them at the device."

"Sounds like a plan" the helljumper replied as he rallied his men for a charge. Kyle Cassandra and the ODSTs sprung up from their cover and began to advance on the jackals, having the opposite effect though. The grunts and even a few jackals, the ones armed with grenades, began to retreat, either in fear or to draw the Marines closer to their shade emplacements. Kyle and his team quickly took cover.

"Commander, we've been bogged down on the hull, any chance you an send a longsword our way?"

"_I'm sorry, son, looks like the jackals won this race. Their forward weapons are online and charging. I suggest you and your team try and put some distance between you and the hull."_

Kyle knew that was practically suicide, they'd run out of air long before they were reported overdue. However the odds of them getting captured along with any survivors, maybe Kelly, by the jackals was high. So where the chances they might be able to commandeer the jackal ship. Just as he was about to give the order, a gray blur passed by the hull at lighting speed. Kyle didn't notice the three drop pods that slammed into the hull because a shortsword bombed the shade emplacements.

As Kyle prepared to survey the damage, a gauntleted hand suddenly appeared before him and he took it, the Spartan encased in mark four MJOLNIR armor helped Kyle to his feet and Kyle was able to read the Spartan's IFF.

"Impossible" Kyle muttered.

"Sorry we're late to the party... Chief" Douglas replied.

--

Commander Veredi sat patiently in his chair for an end that never came, a UNSC ship had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and was firing on the jackal raider. The weapons fire coming from the ship wasn't archer missiles, or 50 millimeter guns.

"Is she firing... deck guns?" Veredi asked.

"Her profile appears to be Phoenix class, so I'd have to say yes" said the tactical officer.

Deck guns were the precursors to the archer missiles and MAC guns the UNSC was so accustomed to, they could fire a variety of ammunition and were quite effective against the Covenant for ships that still had them. The question was, what was an outdated ship doing in the middle of nowhere, unless...

"Captain, this can't be right" the NAV officer started.

"Whatever it is, son, spill it."

"Sir, that ship is broadcasting IFF as the UNSC _Spirit of Fire, _she was lost almost thirty years ago."

"Apparently not, she just saved our hides, now it's time to return the favor. I'm assuming the archer pods are online, fire all forward pods and kindly send those jackals straight to hell."

The _Razor's Edge_ emptied her remaining missiles on the jackal ship, which made thousands of craters in it's already weakened hull, causing a total structural collapse.

"We did it!" The tactical officer cried.

Veredi leaned back in his seat and breathed a sigh of relief, and didn't even see the rapidly approaching seraph as it grew bigger in the viewscreen.

--

Kelly and Maria had made it to deck 16 just as they felt the ship being hit again.

"If it was a plasma torpedo I don't think we'd be here" Kelly said as they reached a T junction. "You head that way" she told Maria, pointing to the left. "I'm going to secure the med bay."

Maria nodded and headed off in the opposite direction while Kelly headed for the infirmary. She continued down the corridor which was filled with the wounded, and debris. She finally located Will's room and quickly entered, a doctor was tending to him. Kelly could see he'd been moved out of his cryotube and onto a table, a nearby heart monitor showed he had a strong pulse. A look at his chest revealed a freshly sealed scar.

"We just finished the transplant when we were attacked" the doctor told her, "assuming we don't loose power down here, he should be fine."

The doctor moved over to the table adjacent to wills to tend to a wounded crewman that a Marine just brought in. As the Marine moved to the other side of the table, he was struck by several plasma blasts from the door he just entered. The Marine fell on top of Will and Kelly brought her assault rifle up, but she was hit from the side as a jackal blasted the observation window. Kelly discarded her melt MA5C and drew her M6G, shooting the jackal in the window, then she turned her attention to the ones that stormed the room. Emptying the remainder of her clip into one of them, it collapsed in a bloody heap on the floor. Kelly leaped over both beds and prepared to fight hand to hand with the second jackal. However she landed in the blood pool of the first jackal and slipped. Before she could regain her footing, a green glow from and overcharged plasma pistol covered her faceplate.

Before it could fire point blank, it was shot in the arm and Kelly manged to duck as the jackal released the trigger and sent the plasma into the wall instead of her head. As the jackal turned to see who had shot it, it was peppered by bullets and collapsed, joining it's dead friend on the floor. Kelly stood up and saw Will was sitting up, holding the dead marine's pistol in his hand.

"Kelly, what the hell is going on here?" He asked.

--

"Lets move" Kyle said as he led the charge, Cassandra flaking from the left with the ODSTs while Kyle took the right flank with Red Team. He didn't know how they got there and didn't ask them as they immediately came under fire from the jackals.

"Give me a chain gun and I'll easily knock down those jackals" Alice said as she reloaded her SMGs.

"Ok, on three, Jerome, jump left and see if you can get a shot at the jackal running the controls, if not knock out one who has plasma grenades" Kyle ordered.

Jerome winked his acknowledgment light and waited for Kyle's signal. When he gave it, Jerome quickly dove for a torn piece of the hull and posted there with a clear shot into the junction. Kyle, Alice and Douglas popped up from their cover and laid down a suppression fire. When the jackals started returning fire, Douglas and Alice quickly took cover again, but noticed Kyle was still firing. When they saw him get hit by plasma, they assumed the worst, until they saw the golden shimmer around his armor and the fact he was still standing made them think only one thing.

"Shields?" The Spartans asked him in unison.

"You missed a lot" Kyle said as his shields hit the red and he was forced to duck as well.

"Chief, jackal at the controls have been neutralized" said Jerome as he rejoined them, "and I picked up some souvenirs."

He tossed Kyle a pair of plasma grenades which he affixed to his belt.

"Cover me" Kyle ordered as he leaped over the cover, and sprinted straight for the device. He demagnetized his boots and oriented himself like a bullet. He slammed into the device, armed both grenades and tossed them at the base, both finding purchase. Kyle quickly pushed off from the devise as grunts scrambled towards the grenades. When they detonated, it set off the ones the grunts were carrying and the concussive force propelled Kyle. He feared he was going to overshoot his landing until Douglas, grabbed hold of him and brought him back onto the hull.

"Thanks for the save" Kyle said has he magnetized his boots. "Commander Veredi, the jackals on the hull have been neutralized."

There was no response.

"Omega-three, you and Spartans 092 and 130 stay here and sweep the hull for anymore boarding parties. I'm going back inside."

--

On the bridge of the _Spirit of Fire_, Captain Cutter looked out over the remains of the two Covenant ships and the _Razor's Edge_ as she continued to drift.

"Serina, alert the hanger bay to prep pelicans for transporting medics over to them. Have the cyclops crews suit up just in case."

"Aye, sir" the AI replied.

At that moment, the door to the bridge opened and professor Ellen Anders stumbled in, out of breath. She was still wearing the same clothes that she had one when she entered cryo, and had a nasty case of freezer burn to show for it.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be here sooner, Captain, but I..." she stopped short when she noticed the battlefield out the main viewport.

"You didn't miss too much, professor" Cutter said. "Serina, try hailing that ship again, tell them I want to speak to their commanding officer."

--

Kyle and Douglas reentered the Razor's Edge and proceeded immediately to the bridge. As they passed through the debris strewn corridors, Kyle saw several medics carrying a gurney, on it was a wounded Commander Veredi.

"Wait" he coughed when he saw Kyle. "Did you do it?"

"Yes, sir, the ship is secure for the moment."

"G-good" he said as he took Kyle's hand, "you did a good thing, Commander."

"yes, sir, I... wait, Commander?"

"Spartan, I'm not walking away from this one" Veredi said as he reached into his pocket and shoved a data chip into Kyle's gauntlet. "Orders... The ship... and the mission are yours now, don't let me down.

"I understand, sir" Kyle said as the gurney continued on. Kyle stared at the chip for a moment before slotting it into his helmet. On his HUD, a transcript of orders from Lord Hood appeared, in the event Commander Veredi was incapacitated, Kyle was to be given tactical command of the mission and the _Razor's Edge_. An automated program kicked in and accessed his personal directory, specifically his rank. His yellow Chief Petty Officer's disappeared and were replaced with the three bars and single star of a Lieutenant Commander.

"Sir" Douglas said as he immediately snapped to and saluted.

Kyle didn't even remember ordering him at ease, and maintained a shocked state until a young Ensign approached him.

"Uh, sir, the Commander of the _Spirit of Fire_ is signaling, he wants to talk to the Captain she said."

"Take me to the bridge, Ensign" he said.

The Ensign led the way until the two Spartans arrived on the debris strewn bridge, a large support beam had crashed on top of the command chair and several more consoles were out now.

"A seraph tried to make a kamikaze run on the bridge" the Ensign explained, "one of our longswords clipped it and it crashed directly below us, still shook the bridge up. The Commander was right in the path..."

Kyle set a hand on the junior officer's shoulder.

"Ensign, keep it together. Right now, the only thin you have to worry about is getting me a comlink to the _Spirit of Fire_."

"Yes, sir" she replied as she moved over to the still functioning COM station.

"Channel open."

"This is Lieutenant Commander Kyle-091, Acting Captain of the UNSC _Razor's Edge_ calling the _Spirit of Fire_, I think we need to talk."


	7. Chapter 6: what ever happened to those

**Message from the general: **just a little heads up for my readers, some things in Halo Wars will be altered to make it seem more realistic, because like I said, most of the things in that game were designed for RTS purposes.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**Chapter 6: whatever happened to those guys?**

**May 18, 2559**

**location: uncharted system outside UNSC space**

Kyle sat in the back of the pelican as it made it's way over to the _Spirit of Fire_. He should be staying behind on the _Razor's Edge_, like any good Commander would do, however he barely knew the first thing about command. So for the time being he'd run the mission his own way.

"Sir?" Said a voice from next to him, it was the same Ensign who had come up to him in the corridor after his promotion. Kyle had asked her to become his impromptu aide.

"What's your name, Ensign?" He asked.

"O'Connor, sir" she replied.

"Well O'Connor, give me a damage report."

She started reading off the datapad she brought with her.

"We have multiple sections exposed to space because of the hull damage. The infirmary is still compiling a list of casualties but the doc thinks we don't have that many dead. Weapons systems are spotty, we haven't been able to realign the magnetic coils so the MAC gun is still out of action, our aft archer pods are still full, however our AI flatlined so 50 millimeter guns are on manual."

"What about our stealth capability?" Kyle asked.

Ensign O'Connor bit her lip, "the Chief engineer says with the amount of damage to the hull, and the fact we're leaking radiation, we won't be bale to hide from a fighter, let alone a brute fleet."

So that was it, the mission was dead in the water, Blue Team was practically on their own until Lord Hood could get a replacement ship, if he'd even reauthorize the mission. But wait, a perfectly good ship was just sitting outside his viewport, but as Kyle thought about the _Spirit of Fire_, a thousand more questions came up, what happened to the _Spirit of Fire_? How come it still seemed to be functional, why didn't they fly back to UNSC space?

As they prepared to dock, Douglass came and sat next to him.

"You have some explaining to do" Kyle told him, "what the hell happened to you three?"

I think the captain better explain Douglas said as the pelican began to dock. They were cycled through the airlocks and into the cavernous hanger bay. Many older D77-TC pelicans as well as the ship's longwords were being serviced. As the pelican touched down, Kyle saw several members of the deck crew beginning to inspect Kyle's pelican, it being a D77H-TCI. As the ramp lowered, Kyle along with Ensign O'Connor and Douglas disembarked and saw a waiting Captain Cutter and professor Anders, neither of them had aged a day since Kyle saw them last.

"Sir", Kyle said as he saluted, Cutter returning the salute.

"Commander" Cutter said, "since when do they put Spartans in charge of ships?"

"It's a long story, sir" Kyle replied, "I think you should explain first."

"First, I have to ask you.... what year is it?" Cutter said. "My AI isn't very forthcoming."

"Sir.... it's 2559" Kyle said.

Cutter hung his head low for a moment and Anders let out a quiet gasp, crewmembers who overheard what Kyle had said also were shocked.

"Your ship was declared lost with all hands three years after you disappeared" Kyle explained, "some people held out hope, more than others."

"Let's have that talk" Cutter grimly said.

--

The next hour was spent telling one another's stories, starting with the_ Spirit of Fire's_, how they made the jump into this system in pursuit of Anders. How they found a planet crawling with Covenant and an alien lifeform that sounded an awful lot like the Flood. They eventually found out the planet was hollow, much like a shield world, and it contained a fleet of ships the Covenant were planning to use to supplement their own forces. Cutter finished with saying how the planet was destroyed using their slipspace drive's reactor to cause a supernova.

Kyle took over, telling them about the Forerunners, Flood, how the Covenant came to worship them. Finally he retold the story of how they won the war, and the post war effects, then he moved on to the mission the _Razor's Edge_ was on.

"Captain, I've been analyzing one of the data recorders from the Covenant ship" Serina said, "according to their logs, they stumbled across the same signal the _Razor's Edge_ did, my distress signal."

"How did we even pick it up?" Kyle asked.

"It might have something to do with the fact there was a supernova here" Serina said, "but it's purely speculation."

"The question is, what do we do now" Cutter said, "our best option is to attempt to repair the _Spirit of Fire_ using parts from the _Razor's Edg_e, then we can head back to UNSC space."

"Captain, I'm on a time sensitive mission, if we're going anywhere it's to my objective" Kyle said.

"Commander, I appreciate the fact you want to complete your mission, but your ship is in no shape for it. Now Serina tells me your slipspace reactor is still intact, all we need to do is remove it and interface it with the _Spirit's_ drive. I'm taking my ship to Earth, and to do that I need your reactor, don't make me have to order you.?"

"Captain, all due respect, I have tactical command here and that allows me to supersede the orders of a superior officer, including you."

Kyle yanked the chip from his helmet and tossed it on the table.

"Read if you don't believe me" Kyle said.

Cutter picked up the chip, and inserted it into the media drawer under Serina's projector. The AI began filtering through the data.

"The Lieutenant Commander's orders have been signed by a Fleet Admiral named Hood, according to my records there's a Terrance Hood who currently is a Vice Admiral" Serina said. "However the HIGHCOM authorization is genuine, he has valid authority to supersede your orders, sir."

"Very well, Serina" Cutter said, who was taking the situation rather lightly. "Commander, your orders?

"Ensign O'Connor, pass the word to the chief engineer to stop all repairs and begin striping down the ship, the slipspace reactor is the priority, weapons and gear is second" Kyle said.

"Yes, sir" O'Connor said as she left the room to contact the ship.

"We'd better go over a battleplan" Kyle said to Cutter.

--

On the _Razor's Edge_, Kelly and Will, dressed in basic fatigues, had just finished going over the lower decks and were on their way back up when they ran into Maria.

"Well, we've got a lot of friends back from the dead lately" she remarked when she noticed Will.

"What are you talking about?" Kelly asked.

"No one told you, Alice, Jerome and Douglas just showed up out of the blue and saved our asses from being blown into space" Maria said.

To prove her point, from around the corner came Cassandra, Alice and Jerome, but no Douglas and no Kyle. Kelly started to get fears that he might have been killed, and was about to ask Cassandra spoke up.

"The CO passed word from the _Spirit_ that we're abandoning ship, we have to pack in all the gear and get it down to the hanger bay within the hour."

"Is Kyle with him?" Kelly asked.

"I thought he told you" Cassandra said.

"Told me what?" Kelly asked.

"Commander Veredi's dead" Cassandra said, "right before he died he promoted Kyle and told him to assume command of the mission. He's over on the _Spirit of Fire_ right now, I guess we're taking it to the planet."

Kelly nodded and proceeded past her, Alice and Jerome, each of them flashing her a Spartan smile which she returned. It was great seeing them again, and she was sure they had a lot of stories to tell about what they had been off doing. However the first thing she was planing on doing was having a long talk with Kyle.

**

* * *

**

May 19, 2559

**location: UNSC _Spirit of Fire_ in slipspace**

Kyle sat at his desk in his quarters that Cutter assigned him, normally reserved for the ship's Executive Officer, who conveniently didn't board the ship before the original mission to Harvest. Also since Kyle was the next highest ranking officer behind Cutter, he automatically got the post of acting XO in addition to being in command of the mission.

Kyle was going over the list of salvaged materials from the _Razor's Edge_, the most important of which was the reactor along with components from the drive itself which they slapped onto the _Spirit's_ to improve speed. In addition they had transfered the remaining missiles from the archer pods, all the 50 millimeter ammo, all the small arms, explosives and vehicles, in addition to all the pelicans and longswords. This, along with the crewmembers, had effectively brought the _Spirit of Fire_ up to full combat status, which means they might actually be able to survive an encounter with the brutes despite switching ships.

As Kyle pondered their odds, he heard the door slide open and immediately spun around to see Kelly standing in the doorway. Like him, she had changed out of her armor and back into a uniform. However she was staring at the bronze oak leaves that now adorned Kyle's collars.

"Are you ok?" Kyle asked as he stood up.

"Yeah, I'm fine" she replied, "it's just I don't know whether to hug you or salute you."

"Oh yeah, I didn't get a chance to tell you about the promotion" Kyle replied.

"Wish it was under better circumstances" Kelly said.

"Ok, what's wrong?" Kyle asked.

"Well... you kinda outrank me" Kelly said.

"I outranked you before" Kyle replied.

"This is different, you know the regulation. Officers can't fraternize with enlisted" Kelly said.

"Kelly, what we have goes way beyond any regulation" Kyle said, "we have a daughter for crying out loud."

He crossed the room and quickly embraced Kelly. She had these regulations drilled into her since she was six years old, and even though she hadn't been in combat for six years, they weren't easy to forget. However, as she was being held, those doubts seemed to disappear and she wrapped her arms around him. Neither of them noticed they were heading for the bed until Kyle landed on his back on the mattress, Kelly still on top of him. Their kisses became more forceful as buttons and zippers were being undone.

"Wait" Kyle said, "we can't, not without protection."

"Relax" Kelly said, "I've been on the pill, remember?"

"You didn't bring any with you, did you?"

"No, but they're good for a week, and it's been six days since I took one" Kelly said. "If it makes you feel better, I'll go get some contraceptives from the infirmary tomorrow, fair enough?"

Kyle didn't even get to finish saying okay as their lips crashed together and clothing was being torn from each other. Needless to say, neither of them got much sleep, and both were thankful for Kyle's soundproof quarters.

--

The next morning, Kyle looked up at the ceiling of his quarters, trying to figure out the best way to get out of bed without waking Kelly, who was currently cured up against him, using his chest as a pillow. The bed covers were tangled around them and Kelly's hair was disheveled, displaying the wild night they had. Kyle didn't end up having to move her as she stirred on her own and slowly looked at him.

'"morning" Kyle said.

"You too" Kelly said.

"We'll be arriving today, few hours hours to be precise" Kyle said.

"I should probably go then" Kelly said as she got off of Kyle and wrapped one of the sheets around her body.

"You mind if I use your shower first?" Kelly asked, "I don't wanna walk around with my hair looking like this."

"Don't you think people would still be suspicious if you came out of my room with your hair all wet?" Kyle said as he got up and placed his arms around her. "Play your cards right and I might just join you."

"You play your cards right and I might just let you" Kelly replied as she broke out of his grasp and teased him as she let the sheet slowly fall from her as she went over to the bathroom, letting it fall completely before stepping inside. As tempting as it was to join her, he knew they had to get ready for today. He quickly located all of Kelly's clothes and got them into a pile by the bathroom door, before changing into a fresh uniform himself.

Suddenly, his door chime went off and his thoughts were drawn to Kelly, who was safely shut inside the bathroom. As Kyle hit the controls to open the door, he hoped it was either Cassandra or Maria, both of them knew about him and Kelly and wouldn't mind. No such luck however as Kyle saluted Captain Cutter who stood in the hall.

"May I come in?" Cutter asked.

"Uh, yes sir" Kyle said as he allowed the Captain to enter, who immediately took notice of the messy bed.

"Rough night I take it?" Cutter said, "I don't care much for the mattresses either."

Kyle was about to say something when Kelly came out of the bathroom, wearing nothing but a towel. She didn't even salute as she stood there in an awkward position. Kyle quickly crossed over to her and handed her the pile of clothes.

"Get dressed" Kyle said as he all but shoved her back into the bathroom and shut the door.

He turned to face the Captain who had a slightly amused grin on his face, "let's talk outside" he said as he left the room, Kyle following.

"Walk with me" Cutter said.

"Sir, I can explain..."

"Who was she?" Cutter asked.

"A Spartan from my team" Kyle replied.

"That would make her an enlisted then" Cutter replied, "you know this can't continue."

"Sir, with respect, we've been together for a long time, and we have a six year old daughter."

Cutter was shocked for a moment, "I'm sorry, I wasn't aware. You should have said that. I have a daughter myself..." Cutter trailed off after saying that. "2559, that's gotta make her in her mid thirties by now."

"I'm sure you'll be able to see her" Kyle said as they reached the lift and he joined Cutter inside.

"I knew after we escaped that, what did you call it, shield world? Well I knew after we got out that any chance of rescue was negligible, and I didn't need Serina to tell me that. We hoped to continuously orbit that system until a UNSC search party checked it out, but it was so far off the map that I knew there wasn't going to be a rescue. I know Mary and Jessica probably moved on."

"They're probably still alive" Kyle said, "you shouldn't give up hope."

"If I may ask, why'd you do it? Why come back after six years. Your priorities were different, you have a kid, and yet you're putting yourself in harms way."

"I'm doing this so I don't have to do it again" Kyle said, "if Blue Team is lost, ONI will demand our reactivation."

The lift finally came to a stop and both officers stepped into the corridor. Kyle followed Cutter until they reached a door marked _observation deck. _They went inside and Kyle wasn't prepared for what he was seeing. Multiple displays and holding tanks had been scattered around the room, cords leading from power outlets near the door ran across the transparent floor to the collection of workstations near the front of the room.

Professor Anders stood in front of a table where she was running some tests on several pieces of equipment that Kyle recognized as a pair of disassembled Spartan lasers.

"What are you doing!?" Kyle said.

"I'm examining these weapons, I understand they fire a type of directed energy pulse" she said.

"There were five lasers, you didn't take apart all of them?" Kyle asked.

"No, just these two, I must say UNSC technology certainly has advanced in the time we were gone."

"Well with the elites helping us now, we've practically rebuilt the inner colonies" Kyle said, "UNSC territory is a changed place nowadays."

"Makes you wonder if an old war relic like the _Spirit _has a place in it" Cutter commented. "Carry on, Professor."

Cutter and Kyle left the observation deck and proceeded down to the main supply deck where equipment was being prepared for the impending ground operation. The main supply deck contained most of the Spirit of Fire's firebase components, and ground vehicles. Several elevators could lift equipment either to the hangar deck or straight onto the hull where the pods could retrieve it.

"We lost half our pods and a lot of our firebase components during the battle. I've got the fabrication shops working around the clock" Cutter said. "But with limited materials we can't expect to be back to one hundred percent in time."

"We'll have to manage then" Kyle said as he inspected a line of cobras, then his eyes were drawn to a pair of vehicles he'd never seen before. They were similar in design to scorpions, but carried a lot more titanium-A armor, and even sported a double barreled cannon. One of them was on a servicing lift and Kyle saw Douglass emerge from under one of the tanks and hand off some tools to a technician.

"Sirs" Douglas said as he saluted, his armor covered in grime.

"What are you doing working on the grizzlies?" Cutter asked.

"I thought it would be wise to have all of our options open for the mission" Douglas explained, "and I think the Sergeant would have appreciated if they were maintained."

"Carry on" Cutter said.

"Captain" Serina's voice broke in over the speakers, "my estimates on our slipspace modifications were a bit off, we're going to be dropping out of slipspace a bit sooner than I expected."

"Very well" Cutter said, "set condition one throughout the ship and order gun crews to their batteries. Wake up the Marines and get them loaded out."

"Aye sir"

"Lieutenant Commander, assemble your team and have them on the hangar deck by the time we exit slipspace."

"Yes sir" Kyle said as he and Douglas went to the nearest lift just as the alarm klaxon began to sound. The rest of the Spartans had been staying in a duty locker across from an armory where their equipment had been delivered from the _Razor's Edge_. Douglas went straight to the armory while Kyle went into the duty locker.

The rest of teams Omega and Red were suiting up in MJOLNIR undersuits when Kyle ordered them to double time to the armory. Kelly closed her locker in the back and Kyle noticed she was carrying a small pill tray in her hand.

"Are those the..."

"Yeah, just got them. All I need is to take twice a day and I should be good" she replied.

"Alright, go get ready."

Kelly left Kyle as he changed into an undersuit and joined the others across the hall. One of the items they salvaged from the _Razor's Edge_ was the armor assembler, and it was cutting down the Spartans prep time. Kyle walked over to Will who was inside his armor and was busy picking out weapons.

"You sure you're ok for this?" Kyle asked.

"You said Linda's at risk, how could I not be?" Will replied.

"Just don't overdo it, we don't want you breaking that new heart of yours" Kyle replied.

"You got it, Chief.... LC, sorry."

--

On the bridge, Captain Cutter stood by the main holo display as Serina went over the final calculations to exit slipspace.

"I've written a program that should cut down the time it takes to heat up the archer pods, and our deck guns should activate upon exiting."

"At least we won't be caught with our pants down."

"Captain, I fail to see how a slipspace transition would cause the crew's pants to unfasten and fall."

Before Cutter could answer, Kyle stepped onto the bridge, fully encased in his MJOLNIR Mk V.

"why aren't you on the hanger deck, Commander?" Cutter asked.

"I wanted to be here when we drop out, I want to see what we're up against."

"Very well, but be prepared for a combat drop if we start taking fire" Cutter said as he took his seat. The blast doors on the bridge were still shut and remained shut as the ship made the transition back into normal space, and when it did, proximity alarms began to blare.

"Report!" Cutter barked.

"Sir, sensors are picking up objects on all sides" Serina said.

When the blast doors opened, they were both relieved and worried by what they were seeing. Outside of the ship were the remains of several Covenant vessels from frigates up to supercarriers.

"What the hell happened?" Cutter asked.

"Unknown" Serina said, "but I would estimate Covenant casualties to be high."

"What about the planet, has it been glassed?" Kyle asked.

"No, sensors are picking up a rich oxygen, argon atmosphere, plant life and abundant bodies of water. My sensors are however detecting an unusual energy reading from this grassland region in the southernmost continent."

Serina highlighted the area on the the holoboard.

"Assume a standard orbit" Cutter said.

"Captain, Covenant vessel directly ahead!" Serina said.

Outside of the viewport, a Covenant ship seemed to appear out of nowhere as it headed straight for the _Spirit of Fire_.

"Hard to port!" Cutter barked.

The _Spirit of Fire_ baked left and avoided the ship my mere meters. She then came back around and assumed an attack posture.

"Captain. the enemy ship is a Covenant CCS class cruiser, and she's transmitting a UNSC identification code."

"A Covenant ship swaking IFF?" Cutter said.

"Wait, I recognize this code" Kyle said, "open a channel."

"Do it" Cutter said.

"Aye, sir" Serina replied, "communications channel opened on the K-band."

"_Light of Truth_, this is Spartan-091. Taloar, are you there?"


	8. Chapter 7: rescue attempt

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**chapter 7: rescue attempt**

**May 20, 2559**

**location: uncharted system outside UNSC/separatist controlled space, UNSC _Spirit of Fire_**

"sir, I'm receiving a reply from this _Light of Truth_. They're transmitting a holographic package."

"Put it up here" Cutter said as he stood next to the holotank on the plotting board. On the tank, an elite appeared. He wore strange robes and gave a polite bow when he noticed Kyle.

"_Spartan, by the rings! What are you doing here?"_

"I could ask you the same thing, Taloar" Kyle said.

"_We were scouting an adjoining system when we returned to retrieve Doctor Halsey and my son who was with your Blue Team. We detected the debris field and remained under cloak until we could determine what had happened. That's when we detected your ship and saw it was of human design. I'm sorry if we startled you."_

"Its ok, and I would love to talk more, but we're launching a rescue party to the surface" Kyle said.

"_Send coordinates, I will join you."_

"I'll see you on the ground" Kyle said as Taloar disappeared off of the holotank, and was replaced by Serina.

"Commander, get down to the surface" Cutter said.

"Yes, sir" Kyle replied as he went for the door.

"So, Covenant allies?" Serina commented.

"Just keep an eye on them" Cutter said.

--

Five pelicans rocketed through the atmosphere, each armed to the teeth with rocket pods and additional chain guns. A full longsword squadron followed them down as escort. The lead Pelican was a D77H-TCI that carried the Spartans while the rest were loaded with either ODSTs or regular Marines.

"_Omega team, we've got out drop pods standing by and two support pods loaded and ready to drop a firebase if things get hairy"_ Cutter said over the COM.

"Roger that" Kyle said from the co-pilots station.

"Sir, escorts are reporting picture clear, no hostiles" his pilot, Hocus said. It had been a while since they had served together and Kyle was glad for the familiar face when he found out she had been assigned to the _Razor's Edge_.

"No hostiles?" Kelly commented over the COM from the troop compartment.

"That's what the flyboys are telling me" Hocus replied.

I don't like it Kelly said.

"Agreed, signal the pelicans to prepare for a combat drop, circular formation around the LZ, then take position 75 meters up" Kyle ordered..

"You got it" Hocus replied. "We'll be hitting ground in five."

The pelicans hit their vectored engines just before they reached the ground and quickly assembled in a circular formation, their weapons being able to provide cover for the Marines as they disembarked. Those with warthogs and one with a Scorpion disconnected their vehicles and quickly ascended once their troop unloading was done. Once Kyle's Pelican was empty it to rose up into the air and joined the others as the longswords flew a CAP around the ground troops.

"Sir, contacts!" One of the Marines barked when a pair of phantoms decloaked right above the UNSC troops.

"Hold your fire, they're friendlies."

A few of the marines were from the _Spirit of Fire_, and weren't exactly attuned to the idea of Covenant and UNSC working together. The phantom's grav lifts came online and in addition to a pair of ghosts, a few jackals, grunts, elites, and even a hunter pair descended from the craft, all wearing the white armor of Taloar's separatist group. The leader of the group was dressed in white combat armor that bore more Forerunner symbols than the rest, and had a black cape draped behind him. He approached Kyle and gave a small bow.

"It is good to see you, Spartan" Taloar said.

"Likewise."

"Have you been able to make contact with your Blue Team?"

"No, they didn't answer our initial hails so either the facility they're in is shielded, or there's no one left to answer" Kyle said.

"The facility we discovered was subterranean, that's what could be blocking your signal" Taloar said.

"Do you know the location of the main entrance?" Kyle asked.

"Yes, however we discovered a second entrance that I'm sure the brutes did not come across. It is not far from here and is well concealed in a forest."

"All right, we'll take it. Troops, prepare to move out."

--

It took close to two hours to reach the forest where Taloar said the second entrance was concealed, and a recon flight had confirmed that the first entrance was badly damaged by plasma fire that only could have come from a scarab. When they reached the tree line, Kyle had to leave the warthogs and their tank behind and continue on foot. He tasked half their Marines to stay behind and hold it as their fall back position. Hocus flew overwatch and scanned the area ahead with thermals, no brutes.

"Sir, over here" one of the Marines said.

Kyle and the others made there way over to a passage that had been covered by vines and overgrowth, the design was Forerunner. There was a door that however was shut.

"We could blow through it" Will said as he hefted his SPNKr.

"Don't be so overzealous" said a voice as she pushed her way past the Spartans.

"Professor Anders, I didn't say you could come down" Kyle said.

"The Captain did" Anders said, "now will you let me open this door, or do you wanna bow it up and risk setting off a security system?"

Kyle nodded and Anders approached the door, using a camera she scanned the door for any obvious creases until she came across a blue crystal recessed in the door. She touched it and part of the door slid away to reveal a glass panel that had the outline of a human hand. Anders reached out to touch it when Kyle grabbed her hand.

"We don't know what that could do" Kyle said.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained" Anders said.

Kyle let her go and Anders placed her palm against the glass, aligning it to the outline. The panel glowed green for a moment before making a buzzing noise and flashing red.

"Well, so much for that" Anders said.

"Maybe it needs someone more keyed to the system" Kyle said as he put down his assault rifle and removed his right gauntlet. He placed his hand on the panel which glowed green again, but this time turned yellow. The door began to rumble and slowly it sank into the ground revealing a sloped passageway that led into the bowels of the facility. The Spartans took up a position in front of the entrance and swept the ramp with their flashlights. Anders tossed a glow stick from her vest down the ramp and that proved it did have an end.

"Marines, stay here and guard the exit" Kyle ordered, "Maria, Jerome, stay here as well."

Green lights winked on his HUD and Kyle led the remaining Spartans, Anders, and Taloar down into the facility. The hunter pair also followed, and Kyle recognized as Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the ones who saved his life back in Voi.

"You didn't have to come down" Kyle said to Taloar.

"My son was with Shane" and Halsey Taloar said, "and I do consider Shane as much. I will not leave them down here."

"LC, I've tried the COM", Cassandra said, "still no response."

"Keep trying to ping them" Kyle said, "they could be in a shielded section."

"Understood."

They reached the spot where Anders' glow stick hand landed, and overhead lights began to snap on. The room at the bottom of the ramp had several glass pillar that ran the length of the room, down to something glowing in the distance. Kyle had Alice, Cassandra and Will take the left flank while Douglass, Kelly and Tweedledee took the right, leaving Kyle, Taloar and Tweedledum to go straight up the center. When they reached the end of the hall, they found out the glowing was caused by a holographic console that faced toward the main entrance.

"This looks familiar" Anders commented, "almost like a lobby."

"I saw some doors over here" Kelly said, "see if you can open them."

"I'm afraid that the rest of this facility is off limits to meddlers!" an agitated voice said from above them.

"What is that... thing?" Anders said as a monitor descended right in front of her.

"You do not have permission to enter this facility, especially since the last group of you was so kind to lock me in the waste processor."

"Do you know where they are?" Kyle asked as he stepped forward.

"No, and if you don't leave I will be forced to... wait", the monitor hovered in front of Kyle and scanned him with a blue beam from his eye. "Oh, I am terribly sorry, I wasn't aware you were the reclaimer who opened the door."

"Reclaimer?" Anders, Alice and Douglas asked.

"It's a long story" Kyle said.

"Oh now where are my manners, I am 6803 Autonomous Flash, monitor of Forerunner stealth shipyard 8-G. I should probably give you a tour, it is your birthright after all."

"Just take us to where the last group was" Kyle said.

"All in due time, reclaimer, please follow me". One of the side passages opened to reveal a gravity lift that went deeper into the facility. Kyle took point as the monitor descended first, followed by the rest of the Spartans. The hunters were the last to land and they brought up the rear. Anders gasped when they turned the corner away from the grav lift. They found themselves inside a cavernous, circular chamber that could fit an entire UNSC battlegroup inside with room to spare. Along the walls were what appeared to be docking collars for ships, and the bottom of the room sported large landing pads that looked like they were designed for dreadnoughts.

"Didn't you say this was shipyard?" Kelly asked.

"Yes, this is a class-7 stealth shipyard disguised on the surface as a type-3 observation post."

"Are there any ships left?" Douglas asked.

"No, this shipyard was depleted and it's complement sent to reinforce other Forerunner military units at the Maginot Sphere approximately 100,000 years ago. This facility has been on stand by and is awaiting orders to begin construction."

"Can you take us to were the others who came before us are or not!?" Kyle barked.

"Of course, reclaimer" the monitor replied, "the gondola is almost here."

An anti-gravity gondola arrived soon after and the monitor instructed them to board it. The gondola began to move down across the room diagonally. Kyle could spot a few sentinels as they passed by, but unfortunately no ships, but it made him wonder what destroyed the Covenant ships in orbit if it wasn't ships from this facility.

The gondola came to a stop after a thirty minute journey and the monitor continued to lead them down a maze of passages until they came across another grav lift that was protected by a force shield.

"Open it" Kelly demanded.

"I'm sorry, but the science labs are restricted by order of the Diact himself" the monitor said.

"Open it now or we'll find the shield generator and destroy it instead!" Kyle barked.

"No need, reclaimer, you carry the necessary authorization."

The shield disappeared and Cassandra was the first down, who signaled all clear a moment later. When Kyle reached the bottom, he knew they were getting on track. The corridor showed signed of plasma and explosives damage. Kyle tasked Tweedledee and Tweedledum to guard the lift while the Spartans took point, the monitor, Anders and Taloar in the rear.

"I was not aware the meddlers had cause so much damage, I've barely had time to make an assessment of damages to the main entrance" the monitor commented.

They came upon a circular room that had evidence of fuel rod gun damage to the entrance, however littering the floor were spent shell casings. The Spartans entered and fanned out, no one was inside.

"This is probably where they made their last stand" Douglas said.

"Where are the bodies then?" Will said, "they could have been taken prisoner."

"I've got an active console" Anders said as she stood by a console that had what appeared to be a holotank attached.

"You appear to have the magic touch, see if you can access it" Anders said to Kyle.

"Wait, I am detecting an unauthorized construct in the terminal" the monitor warned.

Suddenly, the pad next to the console activated and a young woman appeared, she looked up at Kyle and smiled.

"Kyle, thank god you're here!" She said.

"Kalmiya!?" Kyle said. It sounded like her, but her avatar was different, she looked... human. Her skin was pink instead of yellow and her dress had become a dark blue color. Her curly hair was now straight and golden blond in color. Her body also lacked the lines of code that ran up and down it. Kyle immediately snapped his assault rifle up at the pedestal.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" Kalmiya asked.

"Why are you still alive!?" Kyle said.

"What!?"

"It's been _nine_ years since you've been activated, why are you still here?" Kyle demanded.

"Oh, Halsey didn't tell you I guess" Kalmiya said. "She augmented my programing a few years back with Forerunner coding she was able to decipher from one of our digs. I shouldn't be going rampant until, oh say, 200 years from now."

Kyle reluctantly lowered his assault rifle, but kept a firm grip on it just in case.

"Ok, where's Blue Team then?" Kelly asked.

"They're not here, you're too late" Kalmiya said.

"Then they were overwhelmed by the brutes" Taloar said.

"No, as far as I know they're still alive, they just aren't anywhere on this planet."

"They were captured?" Will asked.

"It's gonna take a little while to explain" Kalmiya started, "so bear with me. When we arrived the monitor was initially accepting to our exploration. However when we discovered this facility, he immediately sealed it off. We managed to neutralize him but I see even he managed to worm his way out."

"You are the intruder here, what makes you think the reclaimer is going to listen your your lies?" The monitor snapped.

"Anyway", Kalmiya continued, "we got access to the lab and discovered what it was designed to do from the logs. A team of Forerunner scientists had been designing slipspace technology, including the shield worlds, and something you're familiar with."

On a pedestal in the middle of the room, a beam of light appeared and began assembling a small object. When it was finished, the pink crystal the beam created seemed to hover on one of it's axises.

"It can't be" Kyle muttered.

"This is where they were created" Kalmiya said. "When the brutes found us we knew it was important that the rest of the crystals be destroyed before they fell into Covenant hands. Destroying them without the residual radiation killing everyone was going to be difficult, so I volunteered to stay behind and use the facility's indexing matrix to store the patterns of the crystals."

"Where did Blue Team go then?" Kyle asked.

"They used one of the crystals to escape" Kalmiya said.

"What about the Covenant, we saw the debris field in orbit?"

"One of the crystals was taken before I could index it. The Covenant took it aboard this", she opened her palm and a Covenant repair and refit station appeared.

"It looks like the _Unyielding Hireophant"_ Will said.

"The _Unyielding Apocalypse_ to be precise, but it's of the same design. It was surrounded by a picket of 25 brute ships. I hacked into their systems and monitored a speech by their prophet, and found out what he's planning. He was going to use his crystal to pursue Blue Team with his fleet. I managed to activate this facility's combat sentinels and those hulks up there are what remains of ten of their ships, the rest disappeared when the prophet activated the crystal."

"Where did they go?" Kelly asked.

"This part you're not going to like, all the crystals have been set on a sort of default mode where they follow the path of any crystal that performed a crossover to another universe. The prophet followed the path of Blue Team's crystal, and they followed the path of the last crystal used."

"Us" Kelly muttered.

"I'm sorry, Kyle. The Covenant are heading to your universe, your Earth" Kalmiya said.

Kyle's assault rifle fell from his grasp and too the floor, he almost lost his footing if Kelly hadn't been at his side and helped him.

"You're wrong" Kyle said to her, "you got the data mixed up or something."

"Believe me, Kyle I wish I was wrong" Kalmiya said.

Earth, his home, his family... the Covenant would kill them all.

"Kyle?" Douglass said from behind him. Kyle turned around and everyone's eyes except Will and Taloar's were trained on him.

"What the hell is she talking about?" Douglas asked.

"_Your_ universe, _your_ Earth?" Anders said. "You'd better start explaining."


	9. Chapter 8: the return home

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**chapter 8: the return home**

**May 20, 2559**

**location: UNSC _Spirit of Fire_- briefing room**

"So let me get this straight, you're from a parallel universe where everything here only exists in videogames and books?" Cassandra asked.

A simple rescue mission had spiraled into yet another familiar topic that Kyle was forced to brief them on, his origins. He stood on one side of the briefing room with Kelly, Will at his side and Kalmiya and Taloar on holotanks. Cutter was still adamant about letting Covenant on his ship, manly for Taloar's own safety. The Captain along with the rest of teams Omega and Red, Professor Anders and Serina stood on the other side of the room and listened to Kyle retell his tale.

"Captain, it would seem that the Lieutenant Commander is now a liability to the ship and should be relieved of his duties" Serina said.

"Perhaps you should take into account his service record, thirty years of loyalty and exemplary service to the UNSC" Kalmiya replied.

"That doesn't take into account any hidden loyalties" Douglas stated.

"Kyle is just as much a Spartan as you, his loyalties are the same as yours" Kelly said.

"Kelly, who's to say you're trustworthy here, you're sleeping with him after all."

Kyle saw Kelly's hands ball up into fists, and Kyle even felt like punching Douglas, provided he wasn't still in his armor like the rest of Red Team.

"Kyle's relationships aren't being called into question here!" Cutter barked, "so you'll refrain from going off topic."

"Yes, sir" Douglas replied.

"Serina, what have we learned from the crystal?" Cutter asked.

"Sir, at the Lieutenant Commander's orders I had it placed into level one radiation shielding, and from Kalmiya's logs I've been able to deduce we can use the crystal to enhance our slipspace drive even further. We could make it back to Earth in a matter of hours."

"I think our options are quite clear, this mission is over, Blue Team is effectively MIA. We'll head back to Earth and report in, the Forerunner shipyard is a valuable enough consolation prise" Cutter said.

"_Captain, with respect, I have not given up on my son and I'm sure Kyle hasn't given up on his comrades either"_ Taloar said. "_Allow Kyle and whoever wishes to join the mission come aboard our ship with the crystal, we shall journey to Kyle's universe to find Blue Team ourselves."_

"His ship does have cloaking technology" Serina commented, "their odds of being detected by the Covenant are quite small."

"You'd be outnumbered and outgunned" Cutter said. "That crystal is a very valuable piece of technology and Kalmiya herself stated the patterns for the other crystals were erased, the one we have may be the only in existence. It's too risky, I'm sorry."

--

After the briefing, Kyle had returned to his room and simply sat in his chair, assimilating what Kalmiya had told him back on the planet. The Covenant would most like glass his Earth, Blue Team was still missing god knows where, but all he could think about was his parents and brothers on Earth. The last time he'd seen them was nearly six years ago, and that was only for a few hours. His parents didn't even know they had a granddaughter. The door chime then went off.

"Come in" Kyle called.

Kelly entered the room, baring the same long face as him.

"Kyle, what are you thinking?" She asked.

He stayed silent for the longest time before answering her question. "Kelly... I think we should go back, to my Earth. Try and head off the Covenant."

"Listen to yourself" Kelly said, "we can't stop them and you know it. We've got one CCS class crusier and only eight Spartans, three of whom won't even come, what kind of force is that? We just did this to find Blue Team and its fairly obvious that the Covenant will get to them in the end."

"That's not important" Kyle muttered.

"What about Rebbecca, is she not important enough?" said Kelly.

Kyle looked away from her, she'd hit a sensitive spot and Kyle could tell she said that on accident. Kelly realized what she'd done so she came up behind Kyle and hugged him from behind.

"I'm sorry she whispered, I don't know why I said that. This is your family we're talking about, Rebbecca's own grandparents. I shouldn't have been so selfish."

"Don't" Kyle replied "you made a good point, maybe at the very least we can go there and get my family out before the Covenant arrive. This isn't a fight we can win, not with these odds."

Kelly's mood brightened somewhat, they weren't going to risk their lives on some suicide attack against the Covenant. Not to mention the possibility of Rebbecca having more family around the house, she didn't even think of the larger ramifications, not yet anyway.

The door chime went off again, but this time Captain Cutter entered. Kyle and Kelly quickly saluted before standing at ease.

"I wanted to tell you I placed Red Team in charge of guarding the crystal in case you were planning to steal it and head over to the _Light of Truth_. Also wanted to tell you that stealing it isn't necessary, I've decided to commit the _Spirit_ to the mission."

"Sir, why the change of heart?" Kyle asked.

"The crew, some of them are wondering if Earth is the kind of place they want to return to anymore. So much has changed, and not just with peaceful Covenant, but the crew pretty much thinks their families have given up hope, and to suddenly show up after 27 years. The crew needs some kind of purpose right now, and if that means going to a parallel universe and possibly facing down a Covenant armada, then so be it."

"Sir, I don't know how to thank you for doing this" Kyle said.

"You'll promise me one thing, that the only thing you're gonna do is contact your family and bring them aboard" Cutter said. "My assessment still stands, we're hopelessly outnumbered and I'm not making this a one way trip. I still intend to take the _Spirit_ back to Earth, the crew is gonna have to face their lives eventually."

"I understand, sir. You have my word" Kyle replied.

"Sir" Serina broke in over the COM, "sensors have detected fifty plus small drones similar to the ones we encountered at the shield world massing near port side airlock six. The lead drone appears to be talking, and he's requesting permission to come aboard."

--

Kyle and Cutter went to the airlock while Kelly alerted Team Omega. When they arrived, Kyle found that the monitor had opened the outer door and was now staring into the ship via the observation window in the inner door. Cutter went up to the panel next to the door and keyed the mic.

"This is Captain Cutter, state your intentions."

"I am requesting that you allow myself and my companions aboard" the monitor replied.

"And why should we do that?" Kyle asked.

"Reclaimer! I didn't recognize you with out your combat skin" the monitor said. "Yes, well as to why I am here. I have been monitoring your communications and I understand you intend to travel into a level 7 combat situation. I have come to render assistance."

"And how exactly would you do that?" Kyle asked.

"Now where would the fun be in revealing the surprise?" The monitor replied.

"I'm not letting you on my ship unless you start explaining" Cutter said.

"Very well then, I will simply have to let myself in."

Before Serina could even issue a warning, the monitor had tapped into the airlock door and commanded the inner door to open. Kyle saw the keypad by the door light up and flash green, grabbed hold of the nearest support bar and braced himself for hard vacuum. After a few seconds Kyle realized he was still breathing, and there was no vacuum. He looked over at Cutter who was also clutching a support bar, then over at the airlock door. The monitor floated inside and allowed a line of sentinels to follow, several of them were clutching pieces of equipment in grav beams. Kyle saw one sentinel still in the airlock, and it was projecting a shield over the open outer door that kept the atmosphere in and allowed the sentinels to pass through.

"I have located a suitable compartment for construction to begin" the monitor said, "this way."

Cutter and Kyle followed the monitor after it was clear the sentinels weren't doing anything harmful to the ship, that didn't stop several frightened crewmembers and trigger happy Marines who Cutter gave a talk down to. The monitor and his sentinels set up shop in one of the cargo bays near the interior of the ship and the sentinels began assembling something in the middle of the room. Kyle recognized the black, slightly elevated pad as a translocation platform as it began to hum upon being connected to a pair of Forerunner battery units. Red Team had arrived in the cargo bay just as the platform came on and a sentinel enforcer appeared, followed by another, and another, until six of the large machines were hovering near the ceiling. What came next were Forerunner components of some kind that were quickly taken away by sentinels.

"Captain, the drones have accessed our maintenance crawlways and appear to be modifying ship systems" Serina warned.

"What exactly are you doing to my ship!?" Cutter barked.

"I am attempting to access your power distribution in order to equip this vessel with a type-6 stealth generator similar to the one on your companion vessel" the monitor explained. "As I said, I had been monitoring your communications and know you stand the best chance of survival with stealth capability."

"You'll do this willingly?" Kyle asked.

"Of course, reclaimer" the monitor replied, "the sentinels will also bolster your forces."

"I'd say our odds just went up some" Cutter replied.

**

* * *

**

May 21, 2559

**location: UNSC _Spirit of Fire_**

It had taken a day for the monitor to make the modifications to the ship, and they had been tested successfully. Team Omega was assembled on the bridge with the Captain. Kalmiya was making the final adjustments to the Forerunner device which was hooked up to the ship in a shielded section of the reactor. Cutter still wasn't that trustworthy of an AI who'd lived past the 7 year lifespan, even though Kyle vouched for her enhanced programming.

"From what I've been able to deduce about these devices, you can target a specific time and place to travel to in a parallel universe. I've aligned ours to follow the particle trail left by the one the brutes used, but changed so we arrive over Earth."

"What's stopping the brutes from doing the same thing?" Kyle asked.

"Their intelligence Kalmiya replied. "They may be good at reverse engineering Forerunner tech, but I'm better."

"You said you could target a specific time" Cutter pointed out. "Can you target our arrival in Kyle's universe before the Covenant?"

"Unfortunately, I've only been able to master the spacial coordinates, not the temporal ones" Kalmiya said. "We could arrive days, weeks, or even months before the Covenant show up. Or we could show up after they've arrived."

"Then we shouldn't sit here and talk about it" Kyle said. "Kalmiya, just activate the crystal."

She nodded and a bright flash filled the windows of the bridge as the _Spirit of Fire _and the_ Light of Truth_ seemed to ripple and fade away. The blast doors quickly shut over the bridge windows, but that didn't stop the violent shaking.

"Captain, I'm getting reports of structural buckling throughout the ship" Serina warned as sparks shot from overhead.

"The crystal was never designed to transport two ships" Kalmiya said.

"Terrific" Cutter muttered from his command chair.

Kyle and the rest of Omega gripped the plotting board as the ship was lurched violently. It hadn't taken anywhere near this long the last time, who's to say they were going to the right universe. Another violent bolt rocked the ship and this sent the crew out of their chairs. The Spartans gripped the plotting board and the glass surface began to crack under the pressure of their hands.

"Warning, structural integrity has been compromised, breaches in progress" Serina warned. "Ship wide structural failure imminent."

"Kalmiya, how much longer?" Kyle asked, she didn't answer. Serina also wouldn't respond to his queries and she began repeating the same message of structural failure. Yet another jolt rocked the ship and this time caused a support beam from the ceiling to come loose when the panel above it exploded. The beam of solid Titanium-A came crashing right towards Kelly's head.

"Look out!" Kyle screamed as he grabbed hold of her just as a piercing pain sent him into unconsciousness.

**

* * *

**

August 17, 2572

**location: Sol system, Earth- Chicago**

In the span of a single day, everything Rebbecca Stevens knew about her parents had been thrown out the window. If finding out they were both Spartans wasn't enough, it was that her father was from a parallel universe. She had been a slacker in high school and only vaguely remembered her science class on rudimentary quantum mechanics, therefore she had to look up information on parallel universes on the terminal in her room.

Eventually, she had decided it was time for bed and stopped her research after trying to read a full paper on the subject. But as she lay in bed, she started to think back to the fact her parents were Spartans. Did that make her part Spartan? She was never super strong, smart yes, sharp reflexes yes.

"Oh god, I am part Spartan" Rebbecca moaned to herself. She had the lessons in history class on how the Spartans helped humanity win the war with the Covenant. She had also learned what ODSTs to this day still thought of them as, freaks. Suddenly, O'Brien's insult was starting to make sense, he found out that her parents were Spartans. She knew he wouldn't keep this a secret and the rest of the team probably found out from him. What would they think of her knowing she was the offspring of two Spartans. What would the generals in charge of the ODST branch think, they were officers who'd been helljumpers since the war, they knew all about Spartans. Rebbecca figured they probably knew and since the UNSC doesn't discriminate, they wouldn't care either way.

Rebbecca only wished she knew more about what happened to her mom and dad, Johnson had abruptly stopped the story after the _Spirit of Fire_ activated the crystal. He said that was all the UNSC had ever told him, he did note that the _Spirit of Fire_ did arrive back at Earth. So the question remained, what happened to them?

--

The next morning, Rebbecca arrived downstairs to find Johnson once again at the kitchen table reading the paper. Rebbecca wasted no time in getting to the point.

"Uncle, I want to see the Spartans."

Johnson coughed into his coffee and wiped his mouth. "You wanna what!?"

"They know what happened, don't they? They can tell me what happened to them" Rebbecca replied.

"What makes you so sure they're even still alive?" Johnson said.

"Because you know where they are" Rebbecca said.

**

* * *

**

August 18, 2572

**location: Sol system, Earth, Australia- Sydney **

Deep underneath the UNSC central command campus was an even bigger complex than the campus itself. The facility was known as The Hive and was normally the wartime operations center for HIGHCOM during the rebellion and Covenant war. Nowadays, to appease the reinstated civilian government, the UNSC had begun moving their operations topside, but everyone knew it would always remain underground.

Rebbecca had never been down here before and couldn't help but be on edge. She had overheard Johnson saying to the receptionist that they had been cleared ahead of time by someone in ONI. They had taken two elevators down to another lobby where they were screened again and taken by an officer to a large blast door. He swiped his card and submitted to a retina scan before the door opened and Rebbecca and Johnson were ushered inside. Rebbecca noticed the temperature drop a few degrees as they entered and traversed another corridor until coming to a pair of sliding glass doors.

The officer took them through and Rebbecca noticed a whole line of cryopods, all active. There were several more rows of pods in the room, some active and some not.

"Right there" Johnson said as he pointed to a series of pods in the third row, "that's the Spartans. They volunteered to be frozen if the UNSC ever needed them again."

"Can we wake them?" Rebbecca asked.

"HIGHCOM has sole authorization on that matter" the officer escorting them replied, "I'm sorry, but we need to go, the Captain requested you be brought to her office once your tour was complete."

Rebbecca and Johnson were escorted back to the elevator and rode it with their escort deeper into the facility. Rebbecca was crushed, and partly angry at her uncle, she had been brought all this way to find out he already knew that the Spartans couldn't be asked. So what game was he playing, was he trying to destroy her confidence by indulging her?

The lift finally stopped and they were taken into what appeared to be an administrative section, and judging from the ONI seals on the wall, this was defiantly not a good place to be. Was she going to get a talking to for digging into something they wanted to be buried? They were lead to a set of double oak doors and ushered into a cozy office. The far was was dominated by a window that showed the Sydney skyline outside, an illusion created by holographic projectors, designed mainly to alleviate stress from being cooped up underground for hours on end. A woman stood, staring at the illusion, she wore a uniform with the rank of Captain.

Rebbecca walked forward and saluted when she recognized her as a superior, but dropped the salute when she saw who it really was.

"Aunt Jilan!" Rebbecca said.

Johnson walked forward and embraced Jilan before turning to face Rebbecca.

"Sweetie, do you really want to know what happened?" She asked.

"Yes" Rebbecca replied.

"You gotta be sure about this" Jilan said. "I'm taking a big risk by doing this."

"Doing what? Did you get the files or something?" Rebbecca asked.

"Not exactly. I can't get the mission reports, nor can I wake any of the Spartans. None of the former crew are gonna talk either" Jilan replied. "But there is someone who does know."

"Who then?"

"Your grandparents" Jilan said, "their Earth wasn't destroyed, as far as I know they're still alive."

"I don't have one of those freaky crystals" Rebbecca said.

"I have a few contacts, it's been smuggled aboard a prowler, crewed by people I hand picked" Jilan said as she went over to her desk.

"I don't get it, why are you doing this?" Johnson asked.

"Because Rebbecca deserves the truth" Jilan said, "I planned this well in advance, you don't need to worry about me, Avery."

"So I work into this plan somehow?" Johnson asked.

"She'll need a chaperon, and my Commander knows you're in charge of the mission" Jilan said.

"So I'm being pressed into this no matter what?" Johnson asked.

"Pretty much" Jilan replied before hugging Johnson goodbye. "Get outta here, they know someone stole the crystal from the archives, they can't trace it to me but they're gonna want to detain anyone who hasn't been vetted, including you two."

Jilan reached into her desk and tossed Rebbecca an M6G which she quickly hid in her jacket. Jilan also tossed Rebbecca a small remote.

"If something happens to you on your way topside, activate it, it's a transmitter. My contacts will bail you out. There should be someone to meet you on the surface, good luck."

Jilan crossed the room and Rebbecca embraced her.

"I don't know how thank you enough for what you're doing" Rebbecca said.

"Get on with your mission, Marine" Jilan ordered.

"Yes, ma'am" Rebbecca replied as she and Johnson left her office and headed down the corridors to the elevators. An overhead alarm began to blare and the pair picked up the pace. Just as they rounded the corner leading to the lobby, they came face to face with a full squad of helljumpers, weapons pointing at them.

"Aww hell!" Johnson said under his breath when they noticed a man make his way to the front of the helljumpers.

"Former Sergeant Major Avery Johnson, now what are you doing here?" The man asked.

"I heard they paroled your sorry self" Johnson retorted. "I also heard you and your shower daddy hooked up, huh tinkerbell?"

"Who the hell is this old windbag?" Rebbecca asked Johnson.

"I'm sorry, where are my manners" the man said as he walked forward and extended his hand, "James Ackerson, formally a Colonel in the UNSC Army. My my, you do look like your father, especially in the eyes."


	10. Chapter 9: back in black, part 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**chapter 9: back in black, part 1**

**August 18, 2572**

**location: Sol system, Earth, Australia- Sydney **

"I'd be happy to show you what one of your eyes looks like, disconnected" Rebbecca spat, whoever this Ackerson guy was, he was trouble.

Ackerson let out a hardy laugh, "your mother made a similar threat nineteen years ago, when she couldn't see past her love for her little Spartan boyfriend and the father of her child, when she should have done her duty like we programed those things for."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Rebbecca asked.

"Four months before you were born, Ackerson tried to kidnap your mother and force her to have an abortion so ONI could examine you in a fetal stage" Johnson bitterly explained.

"Yes, that was an unfortunate miscalculation on my part" Ackerson replied.

Rebbecca was strongly considering pulling out her pistol and putting two in this man's head, no matter the consequences from the ODSTs.

"Why aren't you still in prison?" Johnson asked.

"With the tragic death of Admiral Hood, lets just say some of the influence he and his surviving allies still hold isn't enough to keep me in prison", he started walking around Johnson and Rebbecca, explaining. "Although I lost my commission, ONI knew my talents were too good to be wasted and so they brought me on as a sort of 'civilian consultant'. Section three wanted me to start work on a new operation they wanted put into action, for an upcoming project of theirs."

"And what is that?" Rebbecca asked.

"You, Corporal Rebbecca Stevens" Ackerson said. "You are the first successful offspring of two Spartans, something we never thought possible. We had taken sperm and eggs from the Spartan-IIs to try and combine in the lab, but that met with failure. However your father managed to successfully impregnate your mother, and she gave birth to you. You're the next step in the Spartan program, a Spartan 2.5. A human who genetically meets all the requirements for the Spartan augmentation procedure. We can augment and train future Spartans in a fraction of the time it took to train your parents and my own Spartans."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Rebbecca asked.

"Because I want to offer you the chance to join this project willingly" Ackerson said, "force just doesn't quite suit me as much as it did in the past. You could also say that prison has opened me up to other possibilities."

"In terms of companionship, fruitcake?" Johnson asked.

Ackerson gave Johnson a glare before continuing on with Rebbecca.

"Corporal, what I'm offering is the chance to safeguard human lives through your efforts" Ackerson said.

"Fat chance!" Rebbecca spat. "The fact you tried to kill me before I was even born didn't play in your favor. Not that it would have made a difference anyway."

"I see" Ackerson said, "either way, you are coming with me, Rebbecca."

The helljumpers began to move closer, one of them removing a syringe from his vest. Rebbecca fumbled around in her pocket for the pistol when she came across the remote that Jilan had given her. She knew a pistol had a better chance of getting them out of this mess, but just maybe her aunt had a few surprises in store. She clicked the remote and for some reason, her spine started to tingle. Rebbecca immediately reached out and grabbed Avery's upper arm just as her vision was blinded by gold light that seemed to envelope her and Johnson. She blinked once, and the lobby had disappeared and was replaced with a small room with two other people in it. The second she drew a breath, she was instantly nauseous and collapsed on her knees, throwing up on the floor.

"Shake it off, Marine" Johnson said as he looped his arm around hers and brought her back up. The room was nearly pitch black and she couldn't make out the two people as clearly as before.

"Sorry about the lights, it takes a lot of power to run the translocation system" a female voice said before the lights came back on. Rebbecca noticed she was an officer and promptly snapped to.

"At ease, Corporal" she replied, "I'm Commander Alison Sinclair, welcome aboard the prowler _Livewire."_

"What the hell was that thing?" Rebbecca asked.

"A reverse engineered Forerunner translocation system" Sinclair explained, "we're the first ship to test it, and barring a complete examination, I think you two made it fine for the first dry run."

Rebbecca felt like loosing her lunch again but regained her composure as Johnson helped her into the corridor as they followed the Commander and her aid. There was no other activity on the ship as they reached the zero g tube and free-floated to the bridge. Rebbecca's stomach started to feel considerably better as they settled back in gravity. Sinclair took the command chair as the remaining bridge crew manned their stations, seven in total. Outside of the viewscreen, Rebbecca could see the metallic hull of a stardock, most likely this prowler was docked at McKinley station, the largest shipyard over Earth.

"Ma'am, McKinley detected our power drop, they say they're sending assistance" the officer manning the helm said.

"You mean a security team" Sinclair corrected, "helm cut all moorings. Engines back ahead, one half."

"Aye, sir."

Rebbecca felt the ship rumble as it's sublight engines activated, and it's forward thrusters pushed the tiny craft away from the station. The prowler quickly accelerated away from the station just as the security team reached the airlock they were docked at not a minute before.

"Helm, course bearing nine, nine, mark seven zero. Take us behind Luna."

"Sir, three ships on an intercept course. Lead ship is the carrier _Pegasus_, she's ordering us to stand down and prepare to be boarded" the ops officer said.

"Maintain course" Sinclair ordered, "red line the reactor if we have to, I wanna get behind the moon before we go."

"Where are we going?" Rebbecca asked.

"We're using the crystal" Sinclair replied.

"Sir, _Pegasus_ has launched longswords on intercept course" the COM officer said. "I'm also intercepting orders for Luna base to launch fighters and turn main weapons batteries on us."

"Maintain course" Sinclair replied.

Suddenly, a waring in red letters flashed across the viewscreen: **weapons lock on starship**. The computer automatically put the ship to battlestations. Though they didn't stand a chance in hell of surviving Luna base's assault. There were three strategically placed super MAC guns on the surface that could take multiple targets, or fire at a single one if necessary. She also had five full squadrons of longswords for top cover or fighter intercept. More than enough firepower to gut their prowler several times over.

"Helm, evasive roll, five second rotation" Sinclair ordered.

Rebbecca felt the thuds as the thrusters began firing in rapid succession, and saw the space outside the viewscreen start to spin.

"Sir, missile silos on Luna have opened, detecting twenty surface to ship EMP missiles being loaded" ops reported.

"Prepare to activate the crystal on my mark" Sinclair said.

"Missile launch! Time to impact, twenty seconds!"

"On my mark" Sinclair said.

"Ten seconds!"

Activate in "three, two, one... now!"

Rebbecca shielded her eyes as a bright flash filled the viewscreen before it shut off, along with every computer on the bridge. The ship began to shake, slowly at first, then it began to speed up before abruptly stopping. The computers one by one, started to come back online, each of the bridge crew began running checks on the various systems.

"Report?" Sinclair asked.

"Picture clear" ops reported.

"COM clear" the COM Officer reported, "no UNSC signals of any kind. I am detecting a variety of low frequency EM transmissions from the other side of the moon."

"Just like the reports" Sinclair muttered. "Launch a STARS, have it circle over the moon to face Earth." Sinclair rotated her chair to face Johnson and Rebbecca, "I think it's time you were brought up to speed."

--

Rebbecca and Johnson were brought down to a conference room by Commander Sinclair who carried with her a folder marked classified. The room itself wasn't much bigger than the bridge and featured chairs that were built into the table. Once they were settled in the chairs, the Commander began to explain.

"This mission is a lot more important than solving your parent's fates I'm afraid" Sinclair said. "This sole mission's purpose it to put you where Ackerson can't find you. Everything, including the fight that got you suspended was designed to get you here."

"Wait, why?" Rebbecca asked.

"Ackerson was planning to kidnap you during your company's annual war games exercises. Captain al-Cygni discovered this, along with Ackerson's ultimate goal, perform a coup of the civilian government and assassinate HIGHCOM members."

"Why me though, why am I suddenly the target?" Rebbecca asked.

"I'm not sure this is something you wanna hear" Sinclair said.

"I deserve to know!" Rebbecca barked.

Sinclair sighed before continuing, "from what Captain al-Cygni gathered, he was... planning to extract eggs from your ovaries, then combine hem with the sperm samples he has of the other Spartan IIs until he managed to produce an embryo. Then he would clone it as many times as he wanted in order to produce enough genetically capable Spartans."

Rebbecca felt like she was going to loose her stomach again, and considering she had nothing left to throw up, dry heaves weren't such a good idea. She began deep breathing until her stomach was settled, this guy Ackerson was worse than she ever imagined. What he was planning was no better than violating her, hell he was probably planning to do that too.

"You knew?" Rebbecca asked Johnson.

"I knew you were in danger and that we had to get you here" Johnson replied, "I was counting on you having that dream back in Chicago, otherwise it would have been a whole lot harder getting you aboard."

"So what happens now?" Rebbecca asked.

"You go down to the surface to make contact with your grandparents, and persuade them to let you stay with them" Johnson said.

"Why do I have to stay here?" Rebbecca asked.

"We can't take you back with us" Sinclair said, "Ackerson won't rest until you're in his possession, that's why we couldn't simply take you to another colony, his people are too resourceful. Captain al-Cygni is taking the evidence to HIGHCOM. From there it could very well degenerate into a civil war, until Ackerson and his people are gone, you're staying here."

"I don't get a say in this?" Rebbecca asked.

"I'm afraid not" Johnson said.

An Ensign entered the conference room and handed Commander Sinclair a datapad, then left.

"This is the data our satellite gathered, from what we can tell everything appears to be in order on the surface" Sinclair said.

"So does that mean we're still going down?" Rebbecca asked.

"As soon as we're in range to use the translocation system" Sinclair said. "I'm giving you 24 hours, Johnson, then you're coming back up. Corporal, you stay either way, an I understood?"

"Yes, sir" Rebbecca replied.

**

* * *

**

September 7, 2011

**Location: Earth, North America- Alexandria, VA**

The second time being translocated was much easier than the first, but Rebbecca was still feeling nauseous. She and Johnson had changed into clothes that were more civilian looking for the era, and they had been translocated into the middle of a forest so as not to draw unwanted attention. Johnson was carrying a handheld computer that marked the location of her grandparents house. They were in the woods for almost fifteen minutes before emerging onto a suburban street.

Rebbecca found it strange to blend in at first, there were no electric cars, no signs that used holographic imagery, there were no aircraft except for the occasional plane heading toward Ronald Regan national. People weren't dressed all that differently, but the cars they used ejected large amounts of toxic fumes that made Rebbecca feel like gagging whenever they'd pass by.

"So this is where my father's from?" Rebbecca said.

"Apparently so" Johnson said, "although according to the records, it's been about two years since he was here last."

"So there's no telling if they're even still living in the city?" Rebbecca said.

"Well, gotta take a chance sometime" Johnson said as they rounded the corner onto highgate street, the street was lined with houses that probably belonged to middle and upper class families. Johnson followed the PDA's highlighted path until it terminated in front of a medium sized, two floor house. The driveway was a horseshoe shape that had three cars parked in it, one was a large black boxy cars and the other two were a medium sized van like the ones Rebbecca had seen on the walk, and a small four seater car.

"This is it" Johnson said.

"Well, only one way to find out if they still live here" Rebbecca said as they walked up to the door. She started searching for the control pad that normally had the fingerprint ID and door chime, but there was none. All that was there was a small rectangular button located next to the door handle on the door frame. Rebbecca silently cursed herself for not being able to properly remember that not only was she in a parallel universe, but 500 years in the past. Rebbecca pressed the button and held it down for several seconds, she had herd a chime go off from inside as assumed it was ok to stop pressing it. Just as she did, the door opened and Rebbecca was face to face with a pair of blue eyes identical to her own.

"Can I help you?" the woman asked, she had jet black, shoulder-length hair and appeared to be in her late thirties.

"Is this the Stevens residence?" Rebbecca asked.

"Yes, I'm Marlyn Stevens" the woman replied.

"Look, uh..." Rebbecca took a deep breath before continuing, "I know this is going to sound crazy, but my name is Rebbecca Stevens. My father's name is Kyle Stevens... and he was your son."

Marlyn stood there perplexed at the stranger who had just shown up claiming to be the daughter of her deceased son, but then she looked Rebbecca over for a moment before recognizing the face, the face that her husband and son had both shared. Then of course there were the eyes, electric blue like Kyle's and hers.

"Is it you?" Marlyn asked.

"Uh, how in the hell am I supposed to prove that?" Rebbecca snapped.

Marlyn started to chuckle a little, and Rebbecca could have sworn she was tearing up, "I'd know that attitude anywhere" she said as she wrapped her arms around Rebbecca, "it is you."

Rebbecca was shocked at first, but slowly placed her hands on her grandmother's back and returned the hug.

"Oh, I completely forgot" Rebbecca said as she broke the hug and turned to face Johnson. "This is..."

"Sergeant Johnson" Marlyn finished, "I studied up on Halo when Kyle left. I'd know your face anywhere."

Rebbecca wasn't sure what Halo was supposed to be, but didn't dwell on it as Marlyn led them both inside. Directly in front of the door was a staircase that presumably led upstairs, and to the right was an archway that led into a living room. Another man was seated on the couch, reading a newspaper when he looked up and saw Johnson and Rebbecca entering.

"Marlyn, who are they?" He said as he stood up.

"Alan... Alan, she's Rebbecca."

"Rebbecca? You mean she's Kyle's..."

Marlyn nodded.

"You're sure?"

"Alan, look at her and honestly tell me you don't see him in her" Marlyn said.

"How is this possible?" Alan Stevens asked Rebbecca. "He said you were only six."

"That was thirteen years ago for me" Rebbecca muttered.

"So... who's your friend then?" Alan asked.

"Avery Johnson" Johnson said as he walked forward and extended his hand, "up until a year ago I was her guardian."

"What happened a year ago?" Alan asked.

"She turned eighteen, and unlike like every other rebellious teen on the block she went straight for the corps" Johnson said.

Alan shook Johnson's hand. "You Marine?" He asked.

"Ex-Sergeant Major" Johnson replied, "your granddaughter here is quite the up and coming Corporal."

"I have a feeling this is going to be one interesting story" Alan said as he smiled. And for the first time since her life had been turned upside down, Rebbecca smiled.

--

The next hour was spent getting to know one another in Alan's study. It was an oak paneled room with no windows, but had a pair of couches and and desk. Along the walls were various pictures of men in uniform, framed medals and assorted regiment patches, all of which belonged to the United States Marine Corps. Her grandfather began telling her stories of her family, which was career military dating back to the Spanish-American war.

"Your great-great-grandfather fought in the pacific. Your great-grandfather, my father, was a Marine aviator in the Vietnam war. I however chose ground combat. And your father.... well he was something different. Not like your uncle, your real one I mean, career Marine, like I hope his younger brother chooses."

"So I have two uncles?" Rebbecca asked.

"Yes" Marlyn replied, "I wish you could meet them, but Josh is on a school trip to New York and David is deployed on the USS _George HW Bush_."

"I might get the chance actually" Rebbecca said.

"You plan on staying long?" Alan asked.

Rebbecca began to explain what had happened back home, from getting suspended from the Marines, to Ackerson's attempted kidnapping and his plans for her. Both her grandparents were pale faced when she finished.

"Look, it's not safe for her back home" Johnson chimed in. "If Ackerson gets a hold of her and...."

"You don't need to tell me anymore, Sergeant" Alan said, "Rebbecca is certainly welcome to stay here if her life is in danger."

"You mean it?" Rebbecca asked.

"Honey, we wouldn't dare turn you away" Marlyn said, "you're family."

"Look, I know this isn't a good time, but there's another reason I came here" Rebbecca said. "On my Earth, the UNSC classified the mission my parents were on, I know they came here to stop a Covenant ship, and obviously you're still here. I wanted to know if you know what happened to them?"

"We know" Alan said, "are you sure you wanna hear this?"

"Absolutely" Rebbecca replied.

"Ok" Alan said as he reclined back on the couch, "after your father arrived...."


	11. Chapter 10: back in black, part 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**chapter 10: back in black, part 2**

**date unknown**

**location: UNSC _Spirit of Fire_- position unknown**

The first thing Kyle felt upon regaining consciousness was pain, then his eyes hurt. All Kyle could see was a blinding blue light that slowly resolved as his vision became better. It turned out to be the monitor, floating mere inches from his face.

"Reclaimer, I am glad you have regained consciousness" he said as he put some distance in between them.

"W-what happened?" Kyle asked, and no sooner had he said that then memories of their transition came back... and Kelly! Kyle scrambled up and saw that the plotting table had broke the fall of the titanium-A beam. Team Omega was also regaining consciousness, but Kelly was nowhere in sight. Kyle looked around the darkened bridge and eventually found her tending to an injured Cutter who bumped his head after falling from his chair.

"I'm fine" Cutter said as he brushed Kelly aside and replaced his cap. "Serina, report."

"Our transition was surprisingly smoother than I thought" the AI said as she materialized on the holopad on the captain's chair. "Our hull was in danger of collapse, but it appears to be perfectly sound now, I can find no signs of damage aside from the breaches we sustained on the trip."

"Kyle, you need to see this" Kalmiya said as she materialized on the other holopad. She override the safeties on the blast doors covering the view ports and opened them. The bridge was instantly brightened by the massive blue-green planet below them.

"Serina, give me a topographic" scan Cutter said as he moved over to the plotting board. Despite taking a titanium-A beam to it, the Plexiglas surface held. Maria and Will cleared the beam off of the table and Cassandra rebooted the holographic emitters. A 3D representation of the plant soon appeared, and Serina began highlighting land masses.

"Australia, North America, Europe. They're all here. And judging from the available starfix, I'd say we're at Earth" Serina reported. "However, I'm not detecting any UNSC instillations, or signals of any kind. There is a variety of low frequency EM and digital transmissions coming from the surface."

"What's the status of the cloaking mechanism?" Cutter asked.

"I activated it when your AIs failed to do so" the monitor said, "we were only visible for a few seconds."

"Sir, I have received a signal from the _Light of Truth_, they too are in stealth mode and have assumed a higher orbit" Serina reported.

"Signal them to send over their dropship" Cutter said. "Lieutenant Commander, your mission is a go."

--

A half hour later, Kyle and Kelly exited the lockers, dressed in a pair of leather field jackets, cargo pants and black undershirts, all insignia from the _Spirit of Fire_ or the UNSC had been removed, so hopefully the pair would pass as civilians. Both of them were silent on the trip to the hangar deck, Kyle teeming with excitement, and disappointment. He had hoped one day he'd be able to return, but wished it had been under better circumstances than the impending destruction of his Earth. They reached the main hangar deck and were told to wait outside until the Covenant dropship from the Light of Truth had cycled through the airlock. In the mean time, Captain Cutter arrived, being trailed by a brown haired nurse.

"Roll up your sleeve please, Commander" she said as she removed a hyposyringe from her pocket.

"What's all this for?" Kyle asked as the nurse injected him.

"We've been monitoring local broadcasts from Earth and apparently there's been an outbreak of a virus called H1N1 in North America. It's not fatal, but because it was annihilated in our universe we don't typically vaccinate for it anymore the nurse said."

"We also isolated the local date, it's April 24, 2009" Cutter said.

"2009" Kyle muttered, "I've been gone for nearly nine months."

"Don't worry, I'm sure they're still down there" Kelly said as she put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"One more thing" Cutter said as he handed Kyle and Kelly arm bracelets, "transponders, so we can track you at all times."

Cuter went over to the small armory on the wall and removed a pair of M6Ds, then handed them over to the Spartans.

"You're not going down there unarmed" Cutter said, "no exceptions."

"Fair enough" Kyle said as he attached the holster to the back of his pants, Kelly doing the same.

"Commander, let me make myself quite clear right now, your only priority is to make contact with your parents. Do not make any attempt to warn the population, or to rescue anyone else. We'll be tracking you the entire time, and if the Covenant arrive before you're finished, proceed immediately to the rendezvous point."

"Understood, sir" Kyle said.

Cutter saluted and then left the room with the nurse, as they left the holopad next to the door activated and displayed Kalmiya's avatar.

"How are you holding up?" She asked.

"Just fine" Kyle replied.

"You know, I wish I was going with you. Being cooped up here isn't exactly a walk in the park" Kalmiya said. "The Captain has Serina keeping an eye on my every move in the system."

"We'll be back home soon enough" Kyle said.

"Yeah, where ONI will want to dissect me for my augmented programing" Kalmiya said bitterly.

"I won't let them do that to you" Kyle said.

"Hey, one problem at a time, get your family out first and we'll worry about me later, deal?"

Deal Kyle said as the computer indicated the dropship had cycled through the_ Spirit's_ airlock. Kalmiya waved to Kyle as he and Kelly entered the hangar deck and spotted the lone green phantom among the gray pelicans. Kyle saw it was being guarded by helljumpers from the _Razor's Edge_, men who were more accustomed to elites than the rest of the _Spirit's_ crew. The lead ODST gave Kyle a slight nod as he and Kelly stood underneath the dropship. The circular hatch in it's belly opened up and a purple light encompassed the two Spartans and brought them into the dropship. They were suspended inside the ship until a reptilian hand entered the beam and pulled both Spartans out.

"Apologies for the grav beam, it is in need of repair" the elite who helped them out said. He was wearing the standard white armor of Taloar's group. "I am Quen 'Atuggee, your pilot."

"Nice to meet you" Kyle said as he and Quen went into the cockpit.

"Where is our destination?" the elite asked as he showed Kyle a holographic map of Earth. Kyle went over and magnified north America, then selected the Mid-Atlantic states.

"There's a river that runs through the city in the middle of this area. Alexandria is on the southern bank just south of the city."

"I have it on sensors" the elite said as he took his station, "we shall be taking off shortly, I will activate the stealth generator once we are clear of your ship."

Kyle returned to the back of the dropship and sat with Kelly. Neither of them talked on the ride down, and Kelly could only guess as to what Kyle was feeling, happiness, disappointment? They hadn't been detected during their descent and soon Quen was calling to them to say they had arrive and he was setting them down in a forest.

"I will remain above the city until you signal me" Quen said as he opened the bottom hatch and activated the grav beam. Kyle stepped in first and was gently deposited to the ground, Kelly following. Kyle locked up and saw the dropship ascending, and activating stealth at the same time. Kyle took a look around, and realized where they were in relation to Alexandria.

"I know where we are" Kyle said as he took off running through the woods, Kelly in pursuit.

Kyle, will you wait up! Kelly called before deciding to simply overtake him. By the time she had caught up to Kyle, he had already cleared the woods and was standing on a hill. Kelly ran up to join him. The hill overlooked the entire city of Alexandria, off in the distance Kelly could see the Potomac river and beyond that was another city she didn't recognize. It was dominated by a great white obelisk and a domed building.

"Do you know how to get home from here?" Kelly asked.

"Yeah, but we're not going there first" Kyle said as he started down the hill

"Kyle, this isn't what you promised the Captain, you go off mission and he'll throw you in the brig!" Kelly said.

"I'm not going off mission, I need to know if its still safe to try and see them" Kyle replied, "don't you remember what happened last time?"

"Ok, fair enough. But where are we going then?" Kelly asked.

"To see the only person who probably knows" Kyle replied.

**

* * *

**

April 24, 2009

**location: Alexandria, VA- T.C. Williams High School**

"Come on" Mike moaned impatiently as he sat at his desk in last period study, waiting for the bell to sound. When it did, he was one of the first students to grab his bag and be out the door. Mike did a quick stop by his locker before heading out the door, and was immediately ambushed by Jessie Gilmore and his two friends.

"Mike, you coming with us tonight or what?" He asked.

"Jessie, you know I can't" Mike replied.

"Gonna go hang out with nutcase Catlin again?" Jessie's girlfriend Rachel asked.

"She's not a nutcase!" Mike fired back.

"Come on, she's been screwed up in the head ever since her boyfriend killed himself" Jessie's other friend Jake said.

"He died of a brain aneurysm!" Mike barked at him.

"Please, that's just what his family said to avoid the embarrassment" Jake said.

Mike marched forward and prepared to hit Jake, until Jessie blocked his path and held him back.

"Jake, do us both a favor and keep that kinda shit to yourself" Jessie said to Jake.

"Man whatever" Jake said as he and Rachel left for the parking lot. Jessie let Mike go and he picked up his backpack.

"You should have let me punch some sense into that dickhead" Mike said.

"I'll handle his mouth" Jessie said, "but man, he's right about Catlin. She's messed up, that's why she's home schooled now. Why do you keep her company anymore?"

"Because that's what Kyle would have wanted" Mike said as he went off in the direction of his car which was parked in the far lot next to the woods. He reached his truck, threw his backpack in the bed and had just removed his keys when he herd a rustle from the woods next to the lot. With in a few seconds, a hand was put over his mouth and he was pulled backwards into the woods. Mike tried to struggle but this guy's grip was too strong.

"I'm gonna put you down now, try not to scream" a feminine voice said.

Mike was tossed to the ground and he began coughing from lack of air. Someone extended a hand and helped Mike onto his feet. Mike's jaw nearly dropped when he saw who it was.

"Dude... what the hell are you doing here, are you insane!?"

"Nice to see you too" Kyle replied.

"No Kyle, you don't understand. After you blew the hell out of the police station the government figured out I was hiding you. They friggen arrested be and threatened me with GITMO!" Mike said.

"So then what happened to you?" Kelly asked from behind him.

"They made me sign a couple of forms of nondisclosure, and told me to contact them if either of you showed up. They said if I didn't they'd send me... and my mom to prison."

"How the hell can they do that!?" Kelly said. "Don't you have rights?"

"Yeah not if you're an enemy combatant" Mike said. "The president may be black, but he's not stupid."

"Wait, there's a black president now?" Kyle asked.

"Dude you missed a whole lot, AC/DC has a new album and is on tour, there's a new Star Trek coming out, and..."

"Look, I don't care about all that" Kyle said, cutting his friend off, "I need to know where my parents are."

"They had to sign the same shit I did, otherwise they'd dishonorably discharge your brother and send Josh to live in foster care, in addition to prison time" Mike said.

"I need to see them anyway, this is important" Kyle said.

Mike sighed, "Look... I'll take you if you want, but I'm not staying. I've got some... things to do."

--

After a quick ride in Mike's truck, they were at Kyle's old house. There were two cars parked in the driveway, one of them Kyle recognized as his mother's. Kyle didn't know who the other car belonged to, but decided that even if company was over he still had to do this. Kelly got out of the cab first, but Kyle stayed back a moment.

"Listen Mike, you need to pack some stuff and get over to the park within the hour" Kyle said.

"What?"

"Mike, for once in your life listen to me and just do this" Kyle said. "Get your mom too."

"Kyle, is something gonna happen?" Mike asked.

"Mike, don't argue with me, just do it!" Kyle said as he got out of the truck and joined Kelly in the front yard as Mike pulled away.

"Cutter won't let him aboard, you know that" Kelly said to him, she had apparently overheard their conversation.

"I know, which is why I'll have him go over to the _Light of Truth"_ Kyle said, "Cutter doesn't need to know that he was even on the dropship."

"You ready for this?" Kelly asked.

"No" Kyle said, "how do I tell them the world is going to end?"

"At least you won't have to do it alone" Kelly said as she took his hand and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"Listen, Kelly. Don't tell my parents about us, or Rebbecca" Kyle said.

"Why wouldn't you want me too?" Kelly said.

"Because I wanna be the one to do it, and I'm afraid of what my father would say to you" Kyle said, "he's a real hard core conservative. The face we're not married and have a kid isn't going to please him."

"He can pout all he wants, Kyle" Kelly said, "but if this is what you want to do, I'll go with it."

"Thanks, Kelly" Kyle replied, "let's do this."

They walked over to the front door and Kyle rung the bell. He held his breath as the door opened and his mother stood there dumbfounded.

"Oh my god!" She said in a whisper, "is it..."

"It's me" Kyle said.

He didn't waste another second and quickly hugged his mother, she wrapping her arms around her son.

"I'm home."

"Honey, what's going...." came the voice of Kyle's father when he came to see who was at the door. Kyle! He said when he saw his son.

"Dad" Kyle muttered, he was expecting him to be on deployment, but he was glad his father was here.

Alan Stevens put a hand on his son's shoulder before giving him a hug. When they parted, his mother had come over to join them.

"I swear you're looking more and more like your father every day" Marlyn Stevens said to her son.

"Thanks, mom. But we need to talk" Kyle said.

--

Kelly hadn't participated in the meet and greet, and was perfectly content just waiting in the other room. Kelly hadn't looked around much when she was here last, manly because of the pressing circumstances. She didn't look upstairs but instead wandered into the dining room adjacent to the front door. When she was satisfied that she wasn't going to have any eavesdroppers, Kelly reached into her pocket and pulled out the picture of Rebbecca she brought with her.

"I miss you, sweetie" Kelly whispered to herself.

She thought about what Kyle must be telling his parents, they weren't even that old and to find out they suddenly have a granddaughter must be a shocker. Then there was Kyle mentioning his father wouldn't take well to the news. Combined with the fact the Earth was going to be attacked, they had effectively turned their world upside down.

"She's cute" Marlyn Stevens said as she entered the dining room and saw Kelly looking at the picture.

_Oh crap_ Kelly thought when Marlyn came over to look more closer.

"She's yours?" Marlyn asked.

"Uhh, yeah. She's mine" Kelly replied as she put the photo away.

"How old is she?"

"Six" Kelly replied, "and a handful to control."

"Kyle and his brothers were the same way" Marlyn said, "I imagine you had to leave her with her father while you came here."

"Yeah, something like that" Kelly said. _Oh yeah, I lied. The father's in the next room getting yelled at for having kids out of wedlock_ she thought to herself. "Why'd you leave?"

"Kyle said he had to speak to his father in private about something" Marlyn replied, "I don't see why though, whatever it was Kyle knows he can say it in front of me. I don't really mind, I have to go pick up his younger brother from soccer practice."

"It's more serious than you think" Alan said as he entered the dining room, followed by Kyle.

"Alan, Kyle? What's going on?" Marlyn asked.

"You'd better tell her, Kyle" Alan said to his son.

Kyle swallowed hard and told his mother of the impending Covenant attack, and his plan to bring them back to his universe.

"No" his father flat out said, "we're not leaving."

"Dad, come on" Kyle pleaded.

"Kyle, no! You of all people know I don't run away from a fight. You have no idea what they did to us after you came here the last time."

"I have an idea, from what Mike told me" Kyle said.

"Your father lost command of his company" Marlyn said, "they didn't want to tarnish his record, so they promoted him to Major and gave him a desk job as the cover."

"You know how much I like field command, Kyle. I won't run from a fight" Alan said.

"Listen to yourselves!" Kelly chimed in, "me and Kyle actually know this enemy, fought them, and watched them kill countless billions. I am telling you there is no way to win in this situation, no way to resist, no way to fight. You wanna stay here and die, fine, at least think about your kids for crying out loud!"

"Marlyn... go get Josh, and when you get home, start packing" Alan said. "Kyle, you're right, I read those books of yours after you left and I know exactly what you went up against. If this is as bad as you say it is, then we need to leave, now."

"Thank you for listening, dad" Kyle said.

"You're older brother is still on deployment, I can pull some strings and get him back tonight if we're lucky" Alan said. "Do we have that long?"

"I honestly couldn't tell you" Kyle said, "but the sooner the better."

"I'll call in to CENTCOM, I have a few friends who owe me favors" Alan said, "but he's been assigned to a special outfit, I'm not sure I can just...."

"Alan, two Marines are at the door" Marlyn said.

"Kyle, you and your friend better sneak out the back while you still have time" Alan said, "we both know what they're here for."

Kyle's mother and father went towards the front door while Kelly and Kyle hung back in the dining room.

"Should we try and make a break fro the woods yet?" Kelly asked.

"No, hold on" Kyle said as he father opened the front door.

"Major Alan Stevens?" One of the Marines asked.

"Yes" Alan replied.

"Sir, we regret to inform you that your son is missing in action in Iraq" the Marine said. "He is presumed either killed or captured by the Iranian revolutionary guard, in either case there's no trace of him."

"Oh god, not again" Kyle's mother said as she broke down into tears and leaned on Alan's arm. Kyle and Kelly being witness to the whole thing.

--

Across town, Mike had just pulled into the Simmons residence and was met at the door by a woman clearly of Native American descent.

"Hi Mike, she's upstairs" the woman said as she let him inside.

"Thanks, Mrs Simmons" Mike said as he went inside and bounded up the stairs to the second floor. He found the first door on the left open and he went inside, dropped his bag on the nearest char and walked over to the girl sitting on her bed.

"Mike, how was school?" She asked.

"Jake making his usual remarks about you" Mike said.

"It doesn't matter, he doesn't have to say it to my face so I'm cool" Catlin Simmons replied. "Mike, I know you don't have to keep seeing me like this."

"Kyle would have wanted it" Mike said,

Saying that made Catlin's face sour.

"Oh, I didn't mean to get you upset" Mike said.

"Nah, it's no problem" Catlin said, "it just fells like yesterday he was here with me, cuddling sometimes, making out."

"Come on, can we not discuss your sex life with him" Mike groaned.

"Well we did a little of that, too" Catlin giggled.

Mike chuckled a bit too, but the fun didn't last long as Catlin's mom came in.

"uhh, Mike this man is apparently here to..."

She was shoved out of the way just as three men appeared, two in suits stood guard at the door while the third, wearing business casual, with gray hair and piercing blue eyes stepped in. He reached into his coat and removed an ID wallet which he flipped open. Inside was a badge and an ID that read: Department of the Navy: Navy Criminal Investigative Service.

"Michael Wilson?" He asked, "we need to talk, concerning your friend Kyle."


	12. Chapter 11: unmasked

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**chapter 11: unmasked**

**April 25, 2009**

**location: somewhere near the Iran-Iraq border**

David slowly commanded his body to wake up after what seemed like an eternity of sleep. He immediately felt cold and uncomfortable and soon discovered he was lying on rock in what appeared to be a cave. The only illumination came from several LED lanterns positioned around the cave. David shivered and soon realized that he was naked from the waist up, even his dog tags were missing. His side felt sore and he had an IV shunt inserted into his arm. David was preparing to pull it out when a voice cautioned: "I wouldn't do that, you'll tear out a vein if you just pull it."

David looked over at a small collection of crates and saw a disk shaped platform had been placed on top of them. Standing on the disk was a woman of only a few inches height. At first glance she appeared to be naked, but then David saw her blue skin with lines of code running up and down it. She was oddly familiar, but he couldn't quite remember where he had seen her before.

"He's awake" she said to someone in the shadows.

A large figure in some kind of green armor made his way from out of the shadows to stand next to the blue woman, and the pair of them standing side by side allowed David to make the connection. The helmet, the armor, the woman.

"What the hell?!" David said as he tried to move back, only this caused his side to flare up in pain.

"Hey, take it easy, you broke three ribs in your fall" the armored figure said.

"What the hell kinda Iranian trick is this!?" David barked.

"If you mean the solders who were going to kill you, the Master Chief here handled that, I believe you were still conscious when he saved you" the woman said.

"No, the two of you, you're not real!" David said, "you're videogame characters, I know because I used to play Halo. Now what the hell is going on, I want to speak to whoever is in charge with dealing with prisoners of war."

"Hey, we're not videogame characters. We're real people, well the Chief is anyway" the woman David knew to be Cortana said.

"I'm pretty sure I know what happened" the Chief said, "we're from a parallel universe where your videogame actually exists in real life. We ended up here by accident."

"I remember my brother telling me about the ending of the third game" David said, still having his doubts about what was happening. "You were lost in space or something."

"Our ship was sheered in half while trying to travel through a slipspace portal to Earth" Cortana said. "Myself and the Chief were in the rear half when it happened. He placed himself in cryo to wait for rescue while I monitored the ship. After a few months we drifted into orbit here."

"The meteor? That was you?" David asked.

"I noticed this was Earth right before we entered the atmosphere, but because no UNSC ship had rescued us before we entered the atmosphere, I figured something must have happened down here" Cortana said.

"Why did your ship just explode like that? It had been on the ground for hours" David said.

"After intercepting low frequency transmissions, we had detected people moving in, and knew we couldn't leave the ship there for them to fine, so we melted down the reactor. I figured the portal must have thrown us back in time when it collapsed. But I didn't suspect it would send us to a whole different universe until the Chief showed me some evidence" Cortana said.

"And what evidence is that?" David asked.

"Classified" the Chief replied.

"So what do you want with me?" David asked.

"Well we know you're from the United States, and US is probably the only country willing enough to shelter us" Cortana said. "That and we couldn't just leave you there to be killed."

"My ribs?"

"Three of them were broken, I set them and they're healing nicely" the Chief said, "just don't get bashed there for at least a week."

"How long was I out?"

"About a week" the Chief said, "we had to keep you sedated, for your injuries and for our cover. Unfortunately we ran out of sedatives today."

"Why am I not hungry or thirty?"

"Intravenous supplements" Cortana said, "also prevents muscle atrophy."

"Here, Corporal" the Chief said as he tossed David his dogtags back. "What's your name? All I got off of those was an initial."

"It's David, David Stevens" he replied.

"Well Corporal Stevens, we need to try and make contact with your people. Your stuff is over here, get dressed."

**

* * *

**

Date unknown

**location: unknown**

"Lieutenant, his fever's getting worse" Lucy said to Fred.

"Give him the last of the antibiotics" Fred ordered.

Lucy reached into her bang and drew the syringe kit. She loaded the last antibiotic vial into the syringe and inserted it into Tom's injection port. Fred, Lucy, Tom, Shane and Wighen had been trapped in a system of caves for six days now, and their supplies were running low. They still hadn't seen Doctor Halsey or Linda since they arrived, all that made it was themselves, their supplies and the destroyed crystal which had gotten hit just as they made their transition from the forerunner facility. Tom had broken his leg on arrival and although they had set and treated the bone, it still got infected. The antibiotics would stave off the infection for another week before his fever would return, they had to hope they would find help before then.

"Sir" Shane said as he returned from patrol, "I found some passages that slant upwards, along with a fresh water supply. We might be getting close to an exit."

"Wighen, Lucy, help Tom up and get our supplies together" Fred ordered, "let's move out."

* * *

**Date unknown**

**location: unknown**

Linda woke up feeling groggy and tired, as if she slept forever. The second she opened her eyes she noticed she was being stared at by a small boy with tan complexion. Someone behind her yelled at him in a language that sounded a lot like Arabic, and the boy was chased from the room. Linda turned her head to see a man standing over her, his skin was much more lighter than the boy's and he had shaggy black hair.

"Nice to see you're up, spaceman" he said, "Jack Wade, CIA. :So what's your story?"

"Sorry, who are you?" Linda said as she tried to sit up, only to endure a splitting headache.

"Oh, spacewoman then" Wade corrected, "we couldn't tell because there was no way to get your helmet off."

"The last thing I remember was walking in a desert" Linda said.

"Well that's where the villagers found you" Wade said. "You were collapsed in the sand, been asleep for about four days."

"I probably have a concussion" Linda said.

"Well if your memory's not to foggy, you mind telling me what the hell you're wearing, and what this is?" Wade asked as he held up her SRS99D.

"What are you talking about?" Linda asked, "isn't this a UNSC colony, surely you know what I am?"

"Lady, I've never even heard of a UNSC, and if we weren't stuck in the middle of Iran right now I'd have your ass in Langley" Wade said.

"Iran.... what year is it?" Linda asked.

"It's 2009, what does that have to do with anyth...." he was interrupted as the same boy from before came into the room yelling in what Linda defiantly knew was Arabic.

"What's he saying?" Linda asked when her armor's COM didn't automatically translate it.

"He says the Army is coming this way, looking for an American, and you" Wade said.

**

* * *

**

April 25, 2009

**location: Earth orbit- UNSC Spirit of Fire**

"Commander, you appear to be lacking passengers" Captain Cutter said when Kyle and Kelly disembarked the dropship onto the hangar deck. Kyle and Kelly had been on the surface all night, working up a plan.

"Sir, we had a bit of a snag on the surface" Kyle said, "it's my older brother, sir. He's been reported missing while on duty."

"Commander, I already know what you're gonna ask, the answer is no. We don't have time to begin searching for him" Cutter said.

"Captain, please. I already know where to look. My father got his squad's location from the Pentagon, they were investigating a meteor impact site when he went missing. All I'm asking is for a couple of pelicans."

"Which area are we talking about, is it isolated?" Cutter asked.

"It's the Iran-Iraq border region" Kyle replied.

"Sir, according to local transmissions and the ship's on board historical database, the country of Iraq is currently being occupied by a detachment of 50,000 American troops. This has also caused the government of Iran to step up their border protection" Serina said over the speakers, "the odds of detection are significantly high."

"There's your answer, Commander" Cutter said. "I'm willing to let you go back down to get your remaining family members, but I won't authorize a search."

"Sir, this is my brother, I won't leave without him" Kyle said, his anger slowly become evident.

"Kyle, I'm sorry but the Captain's right" Kelly said as she grabbed his arm.

"I can't just leave knowing he's still alive" Kyle said.

"You have no proof of that" Serina said, "from what I have researched, he has most likely been taken by the Iranian government. He has most likely been tortured for information and executed by beheadi...."

"You know what, keep that kinda information to yourself!" Kyle barked.

"Captain, I've been monitoring the COM array, and I think I've got a reason to start searching" Kalmiya piped in.

"you do not have permission to access those systems!" Serina said.

"Bite me!" Kalmiya replied.

"What exactly did you find that would warrant a search mission?" Cutter asked.

"You're not going to believe this, but I'm detecting a UNSC emergency transponder coming from that area" Kalmiya said.

Kyle and Kelly exchanged quick glances

"Blue Team" Kyle muttered.

**

* * *

**

April 25, 2009

**location: somewhere near the Iran-Iraq border**

After he was dressed, David was treated to a decent meal of UNSC MREs, which was a lot more tasty then the stuff he was used to. David figured for now he could trust this sudden flesh and blood Master Chief. But the question was, would anyone else? After eating, the Master Chief gave David his M4A1 which he had retrieved, and after placing a small disk in front of Cortana she seemingly disappeared into it and the Chief placed it into his helmet.

"Let's go" the Chief said as he led David out of the cave they had taken refuge in. Above the mouth of the cave was a large flat area that the Chief walked into. He reached his hand out and David watched as his fingers disappeared.

"What the hell are you doing!?" David asked before suddenly, and craft with stubby wings appeared out of nowhere. David recognized it as the transport ships used in the videogame, but couldn't recall what it was called.

"How did you do that!?" David asked.

The Chief showed David what he was holding in his palm, it looked like a purple weight, that glowed on both ends.

"It's a Covenant stealth device" the Chief explained, "Cortana figured out how to increase the coverage and tie it into the Pelican's power supply. So long as we keep the Pelican stationary, it's invisible."

The Master Chief opened the pelican's rear hatch and led David inside, taking him straight to the cockpit. The Chief sat in the forward pilot's station where he removed the chip from his helmet and inserted it into a slot on the controls. Moments later, Cortana's figure appeared on the console.

"We need to try and make contact with your people" the Chief said as he activated a display that had a map of the region on it.

"Ok, we need to get to Mosul, but air defense is tight along the border. Any chance this thing is stealth?"

Cortana shook her head.

"Ok, well if we get intercepted all I need to do is call the planes over the radio and give them my..."

"Can't do that either, COM is fried. We took damage trying to get off the _Dawn_ in this thing" the Master Chief said.

David sighed and took another look at the map.

"What's our exact position?" He asked.

Cortana overlayed a yellow dot on the map, and it turned out they were well into Iranian territory. But then David saw a village only a few clicks away.

"Wait, this village, here" David said as he pointed to it on the map, "the CIA has an operative who was working with local informants investigating a possible biological weapons plant to the north."

"How do you know all that?" Cortana asked.

"I'm with the Marine Corps' HAZ-team, we investigate stuff like this all the time. They had us on alert up in Mosul for this plant specifically" David said. "If we can make contact with the operative there, he can get us clearance to cross the border."

"Let's go then" the Chief said as he began preflight and instructed David to take the seat behind him. David strapped himself in as the Chief engaged the engines and the Pelican took to the skies. The Chief had Cortana piloting the dropship as close to the ground as was possible to avoid radar detection. On the ride he thought about the Marine sitting behind him, his last name was Stevens. The Chief looked into the disclosure file he'd received a week ago, shortly before the journey to The Ark, Kyle's original last name was also Stevens. The Chief had to admit that this Corporal Stevens bore a resemblance to Kyle when he was younger, but the odds of being transported to the same parallel universe were slim, so the Chief didn't decide to dwell on it further.

Several minutes later, Cortana reported they had arrived at the most optimal safe distance, so the Chief decided to leave the Pelican there. The Chief and David went into the aft compartment where the Chief grabbed his MA5C and all the remaining magazines for it. He unpacked a carton of frag grenades and affixed them to his belt, then picked up the SRS99D S2 and a bag of other equipment before hooking up the stealth device. As David was getting out, he tripped over a small box that was protruding from under one of the seats, but he quickly regained his balance and joined the Master Chief outside. What he didn't notice was the small red light emanating from the box.

--

Although this Wade person wasn't trusting of Linda, he at least let her scope out the approaching enemy force using just her helmet, while he held her rifle. Linda was confident she could easily get it back without hurting him, but she didn't have any allies right now, and she was injured. Linda figured she must have sustained a concussion and she was already having trouble seeing straight. Unfortunately all that made it with her besides her rifle was her servicing kit and spare magazines, both being held by Wade.

"What do you see?" Wade asked.

"Three APCs and a pair of tanks" Linda said, she recognized the models as those used by the USSR in the late 20th century. She was forced to accept the fact that she had, according to Halsey's projections arrived in what was most likely Kyle's home universe.

"Look, I know you don't have any reason to trust me right now, but from what you told me and from what I already know, this Iranian Army means business" Linda said to Wade.

"Fine" Wade said as he tossed Linda her sniper rifle and bag, "its not like I could do a whole lot to stop you, spacewoman."

"My name's Linda, not spacewoman" Linda corrected.

"Ok then" Wade said. "I've got a few people willing to support us, you try and find a place to stay out of sight."

Linda nodded and began setting up shop on the roof of the building, it being the highest spot with the best view. She rigged and escape rope down the side of the building in the event she was targeted by the tanks.

After a half hour, the army force entered the city and began dispatching loose fire teams who began searching buildings while the main force proceeded into the center of town, right in front of the building Linda was on. Wade had returned by then and was lying next to Linda on the roof, holding an MP5.

"Looks like they're getting ready to address the people" Wade said as a high ranking officer stood on one of the APCs with a megaphone. He began addressing the people in Arabic, and Linda after rebooting her translation software was able to hear him.

"We know there is an American agent along with an American shock trooper in this town he said. Surrender yourselves now!"

"Does he expect that to actually work?" Linda asked Wade.

"Maybe if he has some motivation" Wade said when he noticed the patrol of soldiers coming back with ten civilians under gunpoint. Linda saw it as well, she began repositioning her rifle to target the tank operator when Wade grabbed her arm.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked.

"I'm going to stop them" Linda replied, "do you want to just let them kill those civilians?"

"Lady, I've been at this a long time" Wade said. "If you think this is bad you should have been in Afghanistan twenty years ago, the things the Iranians are going to do are nothing compared to what the commies did."

"Just try and stop me" Linda said as she positioned her rifle for the closest tank machine gun operator.

"You never said you had a twin running around" Wade said as he pointed to a figure in the middle of the road.

--

The Master Chief and David Stevens had posted on a small outcropping just outside the town and had monitored the troops as they entered and began rounding up civilians.

"They're gathering them in the center of town" David said as he peered through his field glasses.

"Where's your CIA contact supposed to be?" Cortana asked through the armor's speakers.

"I honestly couldn't tell you where he is" David replied.

"Chief, I think the two of you need to hear this" Cortana said as she played an intercepted radio transmission. She translated the Arabic and the pair were informed that the soldiers were under orders to begin executing civilians if the CIA agent and a supposed US shock trooper didn't surrender.

"We don't have any shock troopers" David commented.

"Doesn't matter, I'm not gonna let them kill innocent civilians" the Chief said as he dropped his equipment bag and began pulling out a bandoleer of grenades.

"Whoa, are you nuts!?" David said, "you can't just face down a platoon of Iranians!"

"The Chief has had better odds fighting a whole Covenant regiment" Cortana said, "believe me, the Iranians aren't even up to par with your country, they wouldn't stand a chance against the Chief."

"Here" the Chief said as he handed David his sniper rifle. "The scope is electronic, not that hard to figure out. You've got four shots, make 'em count."

And with that, the Chief took off down the hill and towards the town, leaving David there with the rifle awkwardly in his arms.

"Shit!" David swore as he set up the rifle and laid down in the dirt. He sighted down the scope and quickly figured out how to run the zoom. The oracle scope automatically compensated for wind direction and laid out a proper firing line for David.

"Cool" David said as he targeted the man operated one of the APCs machine gun operators.

--

The Chief entered the town and ran straight for the center, running head long into the Iranian troops. As he rounded the corner, he slowed his pace and walked slowly toward the now alerted enemy troops. They began to move towards him, slowly at first, until one of them said something in Arabic and the others stopped, several of them laughing.

"What are they saying?" The Chief asked Cortana.

"They're remarking on how this appears to be one giant prank and how you look just like the American video game character."

"I'll show them how wrong they are" the Chief said. Although he hadn't killed a fellow human in cold blood since his earliest missions, he had no problem with it now. These people were no better than the insurrectionists, while some adhered to the rules of war, others had deliberately targeted loyalist civilians, and those were the kind the Master Chief specialized in killing. So to him, this was just another early mission.

The Iranian Commander made his way to the front of the group and stood proudly in front of his men, in English he spoke: "you think this is some kind of joke, American?"

"Joke's on you" the Chief replied.

"Foolish American pride" the Iranian replied, "just shoot him, his costume can't block bullets."

Several of the soldiers opened fire on the Chief with their AK-47s, the rounds hit the Master Chief's shields and caused them to shimmer as his shield bar dropped to a quarter. The Iranians ceased fire and a few gave each other confused glances while others checked their weapons. Their Commander stood wide eyed in shock as he attempted to sneak back to his tanks.

"Nice try, it's my turn" the Chief said.

He hosed several of the Iranians with his MA5C and emptied half the clip. Those that didn't die tried in vein to scatter and run for the cover of their tanks and APCs. Just as one of the machine gun operators turned around, he was hit in the chest by one of David's bullets. At almost the same time, the machine gun operator of a tank was hit and he fell sideways. The Master Chief quickly concluded that he wasn't hit by David, and got his answer as to who did as someone whistled _oly oly oxen free_ over a UNSC channel. The Chief was also uploaded an NAV marker that pointed to an adjacent building, on the roof was a Spartan, and IFF read as SPARTAN-058.

The Chief didn't bother to try and wonder how Linda had somehow managed to get here, let alone track him down, as the Iranians had their tank target the Master Chief's position. Three more shots from David failed to penetrate the tank and the Master Chief was forced to dive out of the way as the tank fired. The 125 mm slug turned the spot the Spartan was standing on a moment ago into a smoking crater. Shrapnel pinged off of nearby buildings and the Chief's shields as he ducked into an alleyway.

"I've calculated that your shield's probably wouldn't withstand a single hit" Cortana said. "Spartan 058 may have armor piercing rounds with her. Find a way to signal her."

"Easier said then done" the Chief replied. The only way to hail her was over a single beam relay that functioned on a line of sight. He couldn't see Linda's position and therefore couldn't establish communication.

--

The second the bolt on the SRS99D snapped back, David discarded the rifle and grabbed his M4A1 and prepared to assist the Master Chief. He stopped and picked up the equipment bag the Chief had left behind before running down the hill towards the town. When he reached the outskirts he could still hear gunfire and men screaming, no doubt there would be Iranian soldiers scattered throughout the town. David set his carbine to semi fire before advancing into the town, and with in a few steps he came across a fleeing Iranian soldier. He tried to raise his AK-47, but David shot him twice in the chest. Abandoning stealth, David ran through the back streets until he was starting to come up on the center of town. When David rounded the corner, he made a big mistake. Sitting in the middle of the road was a tank David recognized as a soviet built T-72. The gun barrel was already pointing in his direction and David knew he had to act fast. He reached into the Master Chief's bag in hopes of finding a grenade he could use that would damage the tank. His hands settled around a a device that looked an awful lot like a grenade, but had some kind of folded up tripod on the bottom

David quickly gave the top a twist and tossed the device at the tank. The tripod extended and the top portion glowed before it hit the ground directly in front of the tank. Suddenly, a golden shield made of tessellating hexagons sprung from the device and enveloped the front part of the tank. Too late did David realize it wasn't a grenade. The tank fired, and David braced himself for an end that never came. There was a loud bang as the tank fired, it's barrel still inside the shield which absorbed the brunt of the blast. The shield kept the dangerous shrapnel from hitting David right before it failed. The tank's barrel had been destroyed and the armor breached, the operator dead from debris that struck him.

David looked at the remains of the tank in awe, right until the Master Chief arrived and witnessed the carnage for himself.

"I'll take that back, thanks" the Chief said as he relieved the Marine of the bag.

Just as he did, David hit the deck as several loud bangs were heard. The Chief's HUD pulsed clear, it wasn't coming from the ground, and then the Chief made the connection.

"Sonic booms" Cortana chimed in, "we've got incoming!"

The Chief looked up in time to see several golden specks of light heading straight for the town. Several impacted various points while one was lucky enough to land one hundred feet away from the Chief and David. When the dust settled, the Chief recognized it for what it was, a UNSC HEV drop pod. The explosive bolts blasted the door away and the Chief saw a Spartan in mark five armor step out, take one look at the both of them and say.

"What the hell!?"


	13. Chapter 12: wild wild east

**Message from the general: **School's out for the summer, that means more chapters a lot sooner. Congratulations to teamnoob on being the 100th reviewer. You win the grand prize of $100,000.... in General Motors stock. Also, I have officially launched my Facebook page so come on over and declare yourselves a fan of me, just use my homepage link on my profile.

One more quick thing, I've got a friend with a very good story that you all need to check out, its called _Sword_ and it's in my favorites section. Take a look at it, you won't be disappointed.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**chapter 12: wild wild east**

**April 25, 2009**

**location: Earth orbit- UNSC Spirit of Fire**

The second Kyle had heard about the possible distress signal by Blue Team, he and Kelly bolted for the armory and donned their armor. Before they even had time to grab weapons, the Captain was calling them to the bridge. When they arrived, Cutter was at the plotting board with Serina and Professor Anders.

"Commander, we've put one of the spy satellites salvaged from the _Razor's Edge_ into orbit and we have it over the area where the distress beacon originated from" said Serina.

"You're gonna want to see this" Cutter said as he enhanced the image of a desert and overlayed the exact position of the distress beacon, they saw nothing.

"Where's the source?" Kyle asked.

"According to the scans, that signal is transmitting out of thin air" said Anders.

"Have you tried reseting the satellite's COM sensors?" Kyle asked.

"Three times, it's working perfectly" Cutter said.

"What's in the immediate vicinity?" Kyle asked.

Serina zoomed out to a radius of 100 miles and highlighted several key areas.

"Thirty miles to the east is the border with Iraq. There is also a military complex to the north that I'm guessing from those vat tanks, is some kind of weapons facility." The AI said. "There is a small town just to the north west... wait. I'm picking up COM traffic, its in Arabic... translating... Captain, you're not going to like this."

"What is it?" Cutter asked.

"The transmissions are from an Iranian Army unit that is requesting reinforcements to deal with an American shock trooper, wearing green armor" said Serina, "there are currently several aircraft heading towards the..."

"Commander, get down there and extract them on the double, use the HEVs!" Cutter ordered.

Kyle and Kelly bolted from the bridge and headed straight for the drop bay. Over the intercom, Cutter ordered all the remaining Spartans to report to the drop bay. They were already climbing into their pods by the time Kyle and Kelly arrived and had scoped out a pair of pods. Kelly had climbed into hers and just as Kyle was about to enter his, Kalmiya appeared on a nearby console.

"Feel up to a partner for some field work?" She asked.

"Absolutely" Kyle replied as he quickly bounded over to the console and placed his palm on the controls. Kalmiya uploaded into Kyle's armor and Kyle quickly got himself situated in his pod. He noticed that the interface between himself and Kalmiya felt different. Most of the time it felt like someone was freezing his brain. However this time it felt almost pleasant, like a gentle breeze. He didn't even notice that his HEV had been ejected along with the others and was currently rocketing towards Earth. These HEVs were thankfully taken from the _Razor's Edge_ and weren't like the ones used on the _Spirit of Fire_, those tended to completely burn away, save the parachute and crash cage.

"So, how's your daughter?" Kalmiya asked.

"We're plummeting into a war zone and you wanna talk about my daughter?" Kyle asked.

"Just trying to make conversation, but would you rather I talk about tactical deployments and troop movements?"

"Never mind" Kyle said as he looked at the display and saw they only had a few seconds of altitude left.

"Omega, Red, set your pods to self destruct thirty seconds after landing. Take every bit of weaponry you can out of them and get clear."

Seven green dots lit up his HUD as both Spartan teams acknowledged his order. A few seconds later his pod slammed into the ground and the interior turned red as the display screen began a thirty second countdown. Kyle activated the explosive bolts and the front hatch blew away, and he stepped out, unprepared for who was standing there.

In addition to one shocked looking Marine, was a Spartan that Kyle though was Fred, until he noticed the IFF being broadcast said Spartan-117.

"What the hell!?" Kyle muttered before reality sank in and he went back to the pod, pulling a SPNKr and a plastic case from the pod before screaming to the Chief to run. The trio ran for cover in the nearest alleyway as the HEV exploded, leaving nothing left that anyone could use. Kyle set the launcher down and placed the case down in front of him. Opening it, Kyle found it packed with two M7s and assorted spare magazines. Kyle slapped the launcher on his back while he stuck one of the submachine guns to his thighpad, keeping the other one handy. When he was finished he tuned to face the Chief, completely ignoring the Marine kneeling on the ground, out of breath.

"I thought you were a goner" Kyle said to him.

"Ah, so you did know what happened to us after The Ark, didn't you?" Cortana's voice chimed in.

"I wasn't talking to you!" Kyle snapped.

"Cortana?" Kalmiya asked.

"Kalmiya! Well I wasn't expecting you here" Cortana said.

"Can we save the reunion!" The Chief said.

"Sorry, Chief" Cortana said.

"How did you get here?" Kyle asked.

"The portal. When it collapsed it spat the _Dawn_ out in this system," the Chief said. "We drifted for a while before crashing here. Not that I don't appreciate the rescue, but how did you get here then?"

Kyle was about to answer when the Marine that was with the Chief said, "is this what you people do on a regular basis?"

Kyle knew that voice, even after so long. The Marine stood up and removed his helmet, wiping off his bald head, Kyle recognized the face almost instantly, his older brother David.

"I thought you said you were stranded here!" David snapped at the Chief, "where'd he come from then?"

"Its a long story, kid" Kyle said, giving him a bit of nostalgia at the thought of ordering his older brother around. "Long story short, Chief, we came here looking for Blue Team."

"Linda's here" said the Chief. "Saved me back in the middle of town. We need to link up with her and whoever else were in those HEVs. I'll follow your lead, Commander."

Kyle smiled to himself, the Chief had caught on to his new rank. Every time they had a reunion, Kyle always had a new rank. He decided any reunion with his brother was going to have to wait until after they were safe. How he was gonna break the news to him, that was a different story all together.

"She's posted on a building in the center of town" the Chief said. "But that area's crawling with Iranians. What's the extraction plan?"

"When I give the signal, we have a phantom dropship come scoop us up" Kyle said, "under cloak, so we don't end up exposing these people to too much."

"Chief, the Pelican" Cortana hissed.

"We have a Pelican dropship a few clicks from the town" the Chief said, "we need to get it off the surface."

"Ok, that's our extraction plan. Hopefully Iran will be the only nation to pick us up on radar, but we still gotta high tail it to the _Spirit"_ Kyle said.

"First things first, lets find Spartan-058" Kalmiya said.

"Agreed" the Chief said.

The trio stuck to alleyways and side streets until they were getting close to the town center. Kyle had received signals from the remaining Spartan teams and told them to rendezvous in the town center. As they approached a main street, Kyle put his fiberoptic probe around the corner. That Iranians had fortified the small town square and were policing the bodies of dead soldiers killed by the Master Chief. No doubt they were waiting for reinforcements. The road Kyle was looking down had two machine gun emplacements behind a set of sandbags.

"A single missile should be sufficient to punch through that barrier" Cortana noted.

"I know. But we need to know where Linda is first" Kyle said.

"She was posted on top of a large building, most likely she's still there" said the Chief.

Kyle spotted the building on his probe, and also saw Iranian soldiers rushing inside and faint sounds of gunfire from inside. The microphone built into the probe focused on the roof where Kyle could hear a man yelling, followed by a familiar voice.

"Lady, no way in hell am I playing skydiver down the side of a building!" One voice said.

"Shut up and do it" Linda's voice replied as Kyle saw a man being pushed over the side, a rope attached to his waist. A Spartan joined him a second later and they both rappelled down the side of the building, careful to avoid any of the windows. They did however catch the attention of the gun emplacement Kyle had seen earlier. Kyle didn't waist any time as he secured the probe and his machine gun, unslung his SPNKr and leaned around the corner.

The Iranians didn't notice him until they heard the sound of the rocket screaming their way and barely had time to turn their heads before the rocket hit the sandbags that were supposed to protect them. Instead they were incinerated, and the destruction of the guns sent deadly shrapnel into the soldiers who tried to ascertain what had happened. The Iranians were at a tactical disadvantage and they didn't bother to try and venture out into the destroyed street. Kyle uploaded a NAV marker to Linda's HUD and soon got an acknowledgment light from her.

Kyle, the Chief and David stepped out into the street, providing covering fire as Linda and the man she was with retreated towards their position. The Chief lobbed a pair of grenade at the APC that was now charging for them, it's sole machine gun spitting rounds at them.

"Move!" Kyle barked as they took off down the side road they'd just come from. The Master Chief and Linda in back so they could shield David and Wade who were in the middle while Kyle took point. They knew the APC couldn't follow but they could still fire down the small road, so it was imperative they make it to the next street. They kept running right into a main road, their mistake. Waiting for them was the remaining T-72, APC and a lot more Iranian troops.

"Kyle, multiple contacts closing in!" Kalmiya warned.

Several Mi-8s and AH-1s suddenly appeared in the sky, the cobras taking position near the group while the Mi-8s moved off to unload troops.

"Surrender, Americans!" The Iranian Commander said over a megaphone.

"I'd much rather discuss the terms of your cease fire" Kyle said.

"American arrogance will not save you today" the Iranian said.

"You're right, my friends will" Kyle replied.

Two missiles streaked from the surface and hit the tail rotors of the cobra helicopters and soon they plummeted to the ground. The next barrage of missiles were no match for the Mi-8s countermeasures. The small flares danced around the helicopters as they were struck in their bellies by the last wave of missiles from the Spartan's launchers. The Iranians that stood transfixed at the carnage soon prepared to kill Kyle and his group. Before they got the chance, Maria and Jerome appeared on nearby rooftops and began firing into the soldiers, picking them off at random. While they scrambled to find the snipers, Kyle dropped to one knee. Leveled his SPNKr and fired his at missile at the tank, hitting it and eliminating it as a threat.

One of the Iranians got lucky and managed to fire his under slung grenade launcher, the projectile hitting the ground near Kyle's group. Linda hand managed to push Wade out of the way in time and hers. The Chief's and Kyle's shields could handle the grenade, but wasn't s lucky. Kyle heard David scream out in pain, he was on the ground near the small crater where the grenade detonated. His left leg was mangled and bloody and David was clutching.

"David!" Kyle said as he quickly rushed to his side, but he didn't have the medical kit with him so the best he could do was to administer triage and try and stop the bleeding.

"Covering fire!" Kyle barked, "Medic!"

Kelly and Alice burst out of the building they had been waiting to ambush from and shot their way to Kyle's position. Kelly had the medical kit and quickly broke it out upon reaching Kyle's position.

"Move your hands" she said to Kyle who was clamping them down on David's leg to control the bleeding.

"I- I can't feel anything!" David stammered.

"You're going into shock" Kelly said as she quickly administered morphine and loaded his leg full of biofoam.

"He's good for now, but it looks bad" Kelly said to Kyle over a private channel. "This is him isn't it, your brother?"

"Yeah, all the more reason we need to leave, now!" Kyle said as he helped David onto his good foot and threw his left arm around his shoulder.

Maria and Jerome are helping Douglas and Will secure a route out, follow me Kelly said as she took point with the Chief and Linda in the rear. By this time the Iranian soldiers were in retreat, those that had survived of course. Their pace was slowed with David and Wade in the group but they managed to rendezvous with the remaining four Spartans on the edge of town.

"I'm not going to bother to ask where you found all of them" the Chief said, referring to Red Team. I'll take the lead."

"Fair enough" Kyle said as he grabbed David and held him bridal style so they could cover more ground quickly. Linda threw Wade over her shoulder and after an initial protest from him, once they started running, he kept silent. The Spartans covered more ground and easily covered the distance inside of thirty minutes. Linda let Wade down as the Master Chief pulled a Covenant stealth device from thin air and a pelican dropship shimmered into existence. The Spartans were about to board when two fighters screamed over their position, each had a swept back wing design.

"F-14s!?" Wade said, "Northrup-Grumman was supposed to have sabotaged those birds thirty years ago!"

"Quit complaining" the Master Chief said as he shoved him into the Pelican and the other Spartans soon climbed in. Kyle set David down on the seats so Kelly could tend to him as she returned with the dropship's heavy medkit.

"It doesn't look good" she said to Kyle as the Pelican lifted off. "We need to get him back to the _Spirit_ ASAP."

"Easier said than done" Cortana said from the cockpit, Kyle went up there and saw she was plugged into the dropship, controlling it.

"Those fighters we saw earlier are right on our tails" the AI said. "We don't have enough fuel to try and outrun them."

"Can we make it into orbit?" Kyle asked.

"Yes, but because of the amount of fuel we have its going to be slow going. Those fighters will have riped us to shreds by then."

"Let me see a map" Kyle said and Cortana brought up their current position. "Head east bearing eight-four-one."

"We'll head into Iraqi airspace" Cortana noted.

"Exactly, they'll have to back off" Kyle said.

"Changing course" Cortana said as the Pelican banked and accelerated. The two Tomcats on their tail went supersonic to try and intercept the Pelican.

"They're locking missiles, the ECM isn't functional and I'm not so sure on chaff" Cortana said.

"How long until we cross the border?" Kyle asked.

"We just did" the Chief said just before the missile warning went off.

"Everyone hang on!" Kyle called back. "Cortana, evasive maneuvers, drop chaff."

The Pelican began to bank and sway as small pieces of metal were dumped from pods on the wings. The chaff successfully confused the radar guided missile to strike it instead of the dropship.

"Two more contacts coming right at us", Cortana said, "silhouette matches American F-16 fighters."

"_Attention Iranian and unknown aircraft: you have breached sovereign Iraqi airspace, stand down immediately and follow us back to Joint Base Balad." _The American pilot said over the radio.

"Cortana, get us outta here" Kyle said.

"With pleasure" Cortana replied as she pitched the pelican up and put it into a steep climb, engines blazing. There was no sign of pursuit as the sky started to pale and slowly turn black, stars twinkling in one by one. Kyle went into the troop compartment and was immediately harassed by Wade.

"You've got a lot of nerve kidnapping a member of the CIA..." he was cut off as Kelly jabbed a syringe into his neck containing a sedative and he collapsed on the floor of the Pelican.

"What are you going to do to him?" Linda asked.

"That's up to the Captain to decide" Kyle said as he walked over to where she was sitting, "what happened to you? Where's Blue Team?"

"I can't remember... my head's killing me" Linda muttered.

"She has a severe concussion" Kalmiya said as she analyzed her biomonitors, "she's probably been hiding it this whole time."

"Just rest" Kyle said, "we'll have time for questions later."

"Kyle" Kelly said and Kyle came over to her position, David was in and out of consciousness and his leg was bandaged, blood slowly seeping through it.

"He's gonna loose the leg no matter what I do" Kelly said, he's also lost too much blood, my guess is he tore an artery before the biofoam could seal it.

"I'll alert the _Spirit_" Kyle said as he went back into the cockpit.

--

David was starting to believe this was all a dream from the amount of drugs that had been pumped into his system. He was drifting in and out but was awake when the Pelican docked he was brought out into what appeared to be a hangar, like those on an aircraft carrier only much bigger. He was put on a stretcher and IVs inserted into him as medical personnel wheeled him through unfamiliar corridors. The Spartan who wore armor different from the Master Chief's was following him, listening to every word the medics were giving on his condition.

"Tell the doc to get a cut down tray ready and alert biometrics to fire up the flash clone tank" one of the medics said.

"Doctor, blood pressure is falling. He needs an immediate transfusion" another medic said.

"We don't have time to get the blood synthesizer programed with his profile. Take a sample and see if we can find a compatible donor on board."

"I'm a compatible match" the Spartan said.

"And how do you know that?" The media asked.

Just as the sedatives were taking hold and David felt himself slipping away, he could have sworn that the Spartan had said,

"I'm his brother."


	14. Chapter 13: watchmen

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**Chapter 13: watchmen**

**April 26, 2009**

**location: Earth orbit- UNSC _Spirit of Fire_**

Kyle sat in the commissary twiddling his fork in his food before summoning the strength to skewer a piece of meat and put it in his mouth. After David had been sedated Kyle had donated a full pint and a half to the doctors for an emergency transfusion. After they were certain he was stabilized, they began the task of amputating his leg. Thanks to the flash clone tanks from the _Razor's Edge_, they could grow him a new one, something they couldn't have done with the _Spirit_'s on board medical facilities. It would still be a delicate procedure to attach his new limb, but hopefully it would be good as new.

The doctors hadn't updated him once on David's condition, so Kyle had no idea if he even survived the night or not. Even if he did make it, how was he supposed to tell his brother that he was Kyle. His parents told him how the government had declared him dead, that he died the day he disappeared of a sudden brain aneurysm. His parents were forced to put on their best grief faces for the funeral, while the rest of his extended family and friends believed he was long dead.

Kyle's whole homecoming had him wondering if deciding to live in the Halo universe was the right thing to do. He had researched the topic and found that had he not used the crystal on himself, his younger self would probably still exist and maybe he wouldn't have caused so much grief to everyone. He looked up when another tray was placed in front of his and Cassandra took the seat across from him.

"How are you holding up?" She asked.

"Fine, under the circumstances" Kyle replied, "the doctors still won't tell me anything. How's everyone else holding up?"

"A little combat seems to have solved Red Team's nerves, they were getting a bit jumpy after not fighting for so long" Cassandra said, "they still won't take their armor off, can't blame them though, Maria is the only one actually hanging around them."

"Douglas is as hot headed as I remember" Kyle commented.

"You should give him a chance" Cassandra said.

"Not in this lifetime" Kyle replied. "Do you know what happened to John?"

"Serina ordered him held, Kyle" Cassandra said.

Kyle stood up immediately, "what are you talking about!?"

"Marines escorted him to confinement after you ran off with that soldier from the surface" she said.

"Come with me" Kyle said.

--

The Master Chief sat in the small holding room with Cortana still in his armor. Things just weren't adding up for The Chief, first after being stranded on a parallel Earth without any hope of rescue, Kyle and the other Spartans show up, Red Team among them. Then he ends up on the _Spirit of Fire_, the ship Red Team disappeared in. Now he's held in a room without reason, and there's no sign of any of the Spartans.

"It could be worse" Cortana said.

"I just can't shake the feeling that somethings off here" The Chief replied.

"No kidding" Cortana said, "stuck on a ship that went missing, crew includes all former Spartans, what's not to be suspicious about?"

Suddenly, the holotank situated in the corner of the room activated and Serina's avatar appeared. She did a once over of the Chief before continuing.

"I am Serina, AI for the _Spirit of Fire._ I'm sure you have some questions as to why you are being held here."

"A few" the Chief said.

"Let me tell you that you are considered a guest aboard this ship, however we must ascertain some things first."

The Chief only gave her a cold stare that Serina took as an invitation to continue.

"Was this a preplanned event between you and Lieutenant Commander Kyle-091?"

"You mean getting stuck down there and getting almost blown up by a 21st century army?"

"According to the Lieutenant Commander's personal directory, you are listed as missing in action" Serina stated, "and yet here you are, conveniently setting off an emergency beacon to alert us, and you rescue the Commander's missing brother."

"Wait, Kyle's brother?" Cortana said.

"Why do you think this is some kind of game?" The Chief asked Serina.

"The welfare of this ship and crew are my responsibility and this rescue mission was totally uncalled for. The Lieutenant Commander has cleverly introduced setbacks to delay our departure and inevitably get us killed when the Covenant show up."

"Since when is the Covenant coming here?" The Chief asked.

"I think there's something wrong with this AI" Cortana said.

"Answer the question or I will order you confined in the brig" Serina said.

"That's enough!" Kyle said as he opened the door, Cassandra at his side, "who in the hell authorized this!?"

That would be me, Commander, Captain Cutter said as he exited the observation room and motioned for Kyle and Cassandra to join him inside the holding room.

"I'm sorry if you were offended, Master Chief, at my security precaution, but things just weren't adding up and we had to make some sense of it."

"I understand, Captain" the Chief replied.

"Serina, give us some privacy" Cutter ordered.

"Privacy mode engaged" Serina replied before disappearing off the holotank.

"I'm sure you noticed the same erratic behavior as I?" Cutter asked the Chief.

"You mean whether or not she's becoming unstable, then yes" Cortana said.

"Who is that?" Cutter asked.

"I forgot to mention, the Chief has an AI with him" Kyle said.

"You need to know I only indulged Serina's theories to see just how unstable she was getting. I thought she had done a good job at staving off rampancy by going into standby for so long, but it seems she's been damaged by all that inactivity."

"Standby mode was never certified as a cause to going rampant" Cortana said, "but these glitches could be signs of some other kind of instability caused by being in standby mode."

"If this is the case, we may need to deactivate Serina" Cutter said, "since the Master Chief here as a functional AI, I would like to request her as a replacement."

"Say no more, Captain" Cortana replied. "Its still a shame to loose a fellow AI."

Sir, why exactly isn't Kalmiya being considered? Kyle asked.

"I had considered her, purely out of necessity" Cutter said, "I'm sorry but you said it yourself she's nearly ten years old. Advanced programing or not I'm not plugging her into the key systems."

"Understood, sir", Kyle said.

"Good, your friend there can escort the Master Chief to some quarters" Cutter said, "you, Commander, have a patient to see."

--

Kyle went straight down to the infirmary after his meeting with Cutter. Most of the deck the infirmary was on was actually a giant hospital, given the _Spirit_'s role as a support vessel. Although it wasn't on the scale of the hopeful, it could handle an entire company of soldiers. The main infirmary was a long rectangular room with beds on either side that was primarily being used as a recovery wing. Only a few beds were occupied, either by people who were wounded during the transition, or in Linda's case, someone who got their head knocked around a bit. She was occupying one of the beds near the back of the infirmary, Will at her side. They were talking in whispers and Kyle couldn't hear what they were saying, but was happy for their reunion.

Also towards the back was a single bed being occupied by David, and to Kyle's relief, there were two legs underneath the blanket covering his lower half. He was still sleeping while Kelly was sitting in the seat next to the bed, having been watching him without Kyle's knowing just to make sure he was ok.

"Did you sleep at all?" Kyle asked her.

"Like half an hour, but these chairs make terrible beds" Kelly said as she stood up.

"I hate to deprive you of more sleep, but the Captain wants me to bring him back down ASAP so I can collect up the rest of my family, he's very clear we need to go back by tonight" Kyle said.

"I'll get ready then" Kelly said as she left the infirmary, just as she did though, David began to stir. Kyle grappled with whether or not to tell him the truth or not, but ultimately decided against it believing David had been through enough shockers already. David slowly came too and realized he was in a hospital of some kind judging from the surroundings and the hospital bed ware he was dressed in.

"Take it easy, you just had major surgery" Kyle said.

"What, my leg? It just needed a good patch job is all" David said as he lifted the blanket to look at his leg and was startled by what he saw. It looked perfectly fine, no scars except for one that ran around the circumference of his calf.

"What did you do?" David asked.

"Your leg was to badly damaged to anything except amputate, we clone you a new one and you should be just fine" Kyle said.

Kyle saw David's heart rate go up on the monitor as he scrambled out of bed and tested his supposed new leg for himself. He stood on both of them at first, then tried hopping on the new one before wiggling his toes. It felt honestly like his old leg!

So where exactly am I?" David asked.

"You're aboard a UNSC support ship" Kyle said, "its in orbit around Earth."

"And what happened to the Master Chief, your guys got him out, right?"

"Yes, he's settling in right now" Kyle said.

"You're familiar" David said.

Kyle had completely forgotten that he now bore a strong resemblance to his father and David probably caught on.

"I... um get that a lot I guess" Kyle said.

"I was talking about your voice" David said, "you were one of the Spartans down there."

"Yes, I suppose you could say I'm in charge of them now."

"My brother always told me there were like only four of you left, he's a big Halo nut... or was" David said.

"Anyway, someone should be along shortly to help you freshen up and get you some new clothes. I'm taking you back to the surface" Kyle said as he left his brother's bed and went over to Linda's.

She was in the middle of another hushed conversation with Will that ended in giggles before Kyle showed up.

"Sir" Linda said as she tried to sit up, only to have Kyle motion for her to lie back.

"Relax, Linda". Kyle said as he sat on the bed next to hers, "what happened to Blue Team, where are they?"

"I don't know" Linda said as she proceeded to outline the events at the Forerunner shipyard. The discovery of the same lab they found and the supply of crystals, one of which they used to get here.

"I don't know where everyone else went, I smacked my head pretty good and I came too in the middle of the desert. I walked until I passed out again and then Wade found me."

"Wade, the CIA guy?" Kyle asked.

"Yeah, that's him, what'd you do with him?"

"Captain still has him sedated in a private room. I'm going to drop him off just outside of town, he shouldn't make it back to civilization until long after we've left" Kyle said.

"Will told me what's been happening, this is our fault, Kyle," Linda said.

"You don't have to be sorry" Kyle said to her, when truthfully, he didn't know hot to feel towards her and the rest of Blue Team right now. They had effectively doomed billions to die, but it wasn't like this hadn't happened before. The Spartans were always recalled just at the last moment, often times when a ground victory would have been assured, simply because the planet was going to be glassed and there wasn't a damn thing the Navy or the Spartans could do about it.

"Kyle, Blue Team could still be down there" Linda said.

"I know" Kyle replied, "but convincing the Captain to mount a search just isn't going to work, he's insistent that we leave before the Covenant arrive."

"But we have a cloak, even though I don't trust that monitor you haven't been detected so far" Linda said.

"He won't budge" Kyle said.

"Kyle, if the rest of Blue Team is lost, you know what that would mean for you and Kelly," Linda said.

"I know, and I'll deal with that when the time comes," Kyle said as he left the infirmary to get changed.

**

* * *

**

April 26, 2009

**location: Earth, North America- Alexandria, VA**

David stood with Kyle and Kelly in a fresh set of CUUs that the _Spirit_'s fabrication shop had managed to produce, while Kyle and Kelly stuck to their jackets. It felt strange to David to be home after almost a year's deployment in Iraq, and after the fiasco in the middle east, the odds of him remaining in the Marine corps were slim. There would be no way to verify his story and subsequent battle in Iran, and just showing up at home makes him UA. However he was in no position to argue with the Spartan and his friend, who David suspected of also being a Spartan.

The trio approached David's family's home and were preparing to walk down the driveway when David just stopped in his tracks.

"What's wrong?" Kyle asked.

"The Marines, they already by now informed my parents I'm gone David said, "if I go back, how am I gonna explain my disappearance?"

"I'm sure your father can think of something" Kelly said.

"I already lost my younger brother, I don't wanna bring a dishonorable discharge down on them" David said.

"Look, I'm sure everything is gonna work out" Kyle said. "You won't have to worry about being discharged or anything."

"I'm just gonna do it, face the consequences" David said as he stood proud and walked to the door.

"Maybe it would have been a better idea just to leave him on board" Kelly whispered as they followed David inside who had been met at the door by their father. He ushered the two Spartans inside for what was going to be one of the most difficult conversations of Kyle's life.

David was already in their mom's arms by the time Kyle got inside, and after hugging David she approached Kyle.

"I can't thank you enough for what you did" Marlyn said as she hugged Kyle. But just as quickly as the reunion begun, it was shattered when Marlyn whispered in Kyle's ear: "run!"

Kyle pulled away and tried to get a grapple on the situation when he herd the ominous sound of a pin falling onto the ground with his Spartan hearing. Kelly heard it too and covered her face just as a flashbang grenade was tossed in. his parents and brother never stood a chance as the device went off and blinded them, causing them to drop to the floor in pain as they covered their nearly perforated eardrums. Kyle and Kelly shook off the attack as black dressed, special ops troops poured into the house through the front door and windows. Kelly kicked one in the stomach as two more tried to grab her arms. Kyle ran up and tackled one that was coming in through the kitchen and both of them toppled to the floor. The man flipped over and tried to grab his side arm, only to have Kyle put an arm around his neck and pulled him into his chest, trying to cut off his supply of oxygen.

Just as the the guy was about to pass out, Kyle felt the cold metal of a gun barrel pressed against the back of his head.

"Try it, tough guy," the soldier holding the gun hissed as Kyle reluctantly let the other man go and stood up.

Kelly was on the ground with a boot to her throat and a guns to her face as the rest of the soldiers helped his parents a brother to their feet. One of the soldiers, presumably the leader said: "take these two and the Marine. Leave Major Stevens and his wife, see they're given medical care."

"Yes, sir", one of the soldiers said as they forced Kelly up and her hands into a pair of plastic cuffs. David and Kyle were also placed in cuffs and led outside where several black sedans each using police strobes stood waiting with more armed officers and local police. Kyle, Kelly and David were forced into separate cars and driven off under a tight motorcade, to where, Kyle could only wonder.

**

* * *

**

September 7, 2011

**location: Earth, North America- Alexandria, VA**

"What do you mean you can't say anymore!?" Rebbecca said.

Alan was forced to stop telling Rebbecca the story right after her mother and father were arrested.

"Its not that I don't know what happened, its just I'm under orders not to talk about the rest. The rest is highly classified government information that's a little above my pay grade" Alan said.

"Alan, surely_ he'll_ be able to tell her more?" Marlyn asked her husband.

"Considering the circumstance, I don't think he'd refuse" Alan said as he went over to the phone on his desk.


	15. Chapter 14: I fought the law and the law

**message from the general:** well it's been officially a year since I joined Fanfiction and what a year it's been. Happy 4th everyone.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**chapter 14: I fought the law, and the law won**

**September 7, 2011**

**location: Earth, North America- Alexandria, VA**

Rebbecca sat quietly on the bed that used to belong to her father, looking at all the mementos of his childhood. Her grandmother said she could look around as they had to wait until someone came to pick them up to take them to this 'mystery man' who supposedly could tell Rebbecca the rest of the story. She had scanned the bookshelves, looked at his computer and viewed some of the pictures of him when he was younger. She really noticed the resemblance between the two of them.

"Rebbecca, sweetie?" Marlyn asked as she poked her head in the door.

"I'm sorry if I'm not supposed to be in here" Rebbecca said.

"Oh its perfectly fine, you of all people would be allowed in here," Marlyn said as she crossed the small room and sat with her on the bed.

"I can't believe this is the place where my father grew up", Rebbecca said.

"I couldn't believe it when Kyle said I had a granddaughter" Marlyn said, or when she showed up today.

"Running from trouble, again" Rebbecca chuckled.

"I take it you find yourself in trouble all the time, young lady?" Marlyn asked.

"I was kind of a rebel" Rebbecca said, "I nearly flunked high school, hung out with the wrong people. Finally my uncle gave me a talking to and I dropped out and enlisted in the Marines. He wasn't too happy at first, but it straighted my life out and he was proud of me."

"You're making your grandfather so" proud Marlyn said, "your father was the first in his family to join a different armed service."

"What about you?" Rebbecca asked.

"I'm an orphan, honey, I don't have any family except your grandfather, my sons, and you of course" Marlyn said.

"Thanks for doing this" Rebbecca said, "going to all this trouble for some answers."

"Honey, we wouldn't dare refuse you" Marlyn said as she put an arm around her.

"I just don't think this is the right decision" Rebbecca said, "running and hiding."

"I've read Kyle's books, I know how dangerous Ackerson is" Marlyn said.

Both women were interrupted from their conversation when Alan called from downstairs saying their ride was here. Rebbecca and Marlyn met Alan and Johnson outside where three vehicles, a limo sandwiched between two SUVs stood waiting. Several men in business suits, who Rebbecca figured were security, stood at guard around the vehicles. They were ushered into the limo and driven off. Rebbecca could barely see out of the windows because of the degree of the bulletproof glass, whoever this guy was, he wasn't taking any chances with security.

The car ride lasted close to an hour due to traffic and Rebbecca still had no idea where they were heading, she could only guess it was somewhere in the city to the north. Eventually the car started to slow down and eventually came to a stop. One of the security guards came in and said they would be checked for weapons before being allowed to proceed. When they got out, they were each padded down and scanned with metal detector wands. After Rebbecca was frisked she got to look around a bit, they were in front of a portico entrance to a two story, white building that had a walkway connected to a mansion to the east. Two US Marines in dress uniforms stood at the entrance and they opened the doors as the group was ushered inside. Rebbecca took note of the bronze seal directly above the doors. It had a bald eagle engraved on the front that clutched a plant in one talon and a cluster of arrows in the other, surrounded by fifty stars. Around the outside of the seal were the words: Seal of the President of the United States.

Rebbecca suddenly felt embarrassed that no one told her she was going to meet the president! She didn't have a dress uniform and her current clothes barely passed as civilian. Her grandparents didn't seem to mind as neither did Johnson as they were showed into the lobby and issued visitors badges and were soon escorted through the famed halls of the west wing, passing various artwork and busts of the former presidents. Rebbecca was shown into the secretary's office and they waited for a few moment before the secretary said.

"The president will see you now."

The guard opened the curved door into the oval office and escorted the group inside. The office was decorated with a variety of paintings, had a pair of couches and assorted chairs. At the back of the office, in front of the windows was a great oak desk. The man seated at the desk stood up when he noticed Rebbecca and her party enter. The man Rebbecca assumed was the president was a tall, African-American with short hair.

"I take it you're Rebbecca Stevens?" He asked.

"Sir, Corporal Rebbecca Stevens" Rebbecca said as she snapped to and saluted.

"At ease, there's no need to salute me, I'm not _your"_ president.

"Sir, is standard procedure to salute visiting heads of state, sir!"

"Last I checked, you're visiting me. My house, my rules, stand at ease" the president calmly replied.

The president came over and offered his hand it Rebbecca which she gingerly took.

"Its an honor to meet you" he said.

Rebbecca moved to a relaxed posture and after being introduced to Johnson, the group sat down on the couches while the president pulled up a chair.

"So I take it you want to know the rest of the story of your parents, the part that was classified?" The president asked.

"Yes sir, I do" Rebbecca said.

"I'm sorry that you had to be inconvenienced to come out here, but this part was kept classified for the good of the public" the president said, "everything that followed, lets just say wasn't for the best."

**

* * *

**

April 26, 2009

**location: Earth, North America- FBI Quantico**

Kyle sat in a dimly lit cell, hands cuffed, for who knows how long before the guards opened the doors and put a tray of food inside. They undid his restraints and left, Kyle simply sat there, didn't eat the food, and glanced at the small glass bubble in the ceiling, where the surveillance camera was located. His weapon, transmitter and radio had been confiscated along with Kelly's. He still had no idea where either she or David were being held.

After several more hours, a gray haired man entered his cell, he flashed his badge and Kyle saw he was with NCIS, this brought back memories of when he assaulted two of their agents.

"Put these on" he said as he tossed Kyle a pair of handcuffs. Kyle complied and then stood up, figuring he was going to.

"Understand that if you try and escape, the people escorting you are trained Marines and you're underneath an FBI facility on a Marine reservation. You wouldn't get very far the agent said."

Kyle nodded his head and was escorted out of his cell, and to an interrogation room where he was forced to sir in a chair, his feet were shackled to the floor, but they allowed his hands to be cuffed in front of him instead of behind his back.

"You've made quite a mess, not nearly as bad as your last visit" the agent said as he tossed a file folder on the table in front of Kyle.

"Understand that non cooperation is a bad sign on your part, makes it all the more easier to get you labeled and jihadist and ship you to GITMO. Should be able to get everything out of you before they close it."

Kyle still remained silent.

"Look, you're still wanted on terrorism charges, murder, hostage taking the agent said, if you cooperate, we can reduce your sentence."

Kyle didn't reply.

"You wanna know how we found you? Your friend, Michael, was under surveillance and had been since he signed his agreement. He broke that you know, maybe this will change your mind."

Still nothing.

"Get up!" The agent barked.

Kyle stood up and the guards came back in, undid his shackles and escorted him through the facility once more. They took an elevator up several floors and arrived on a ground floor level. After that it as a short walk to a room marked commissary. Kyle was escorted inside and found two people he wasn't expecting.

Seated at one of the tables, in a hushed conversation was Mike... and Catlin. Both of them looked up when Kyle entered, Mike had a look of regret while Catlin had a look of confusion. The other door to the commissary opened and several more guards pulled a struggling David inside.

"Well now that the gang's all here, why don't you tell our two guests who you really are" the agent said.

"Agent gib..." Mike tried to say before one of the guards clamped on his shoulder. Summoning the courage, Mike continued. "Look, they don't have anything to do with this, don't drag them into it."

"They're just as much guilty as they are victims!" the agent barked.

"They're not Kyle said, he's right they shouldn't even be involved."

"You involved them when you refused to cooperate!" The agent said, "so go ahead, tell them, Kyle!"

"What?" David said.

Mike shook his head as David and Catlin gave him both confused stairs. If Kyle thought getting caught was bad, this was worse.

--

Kelly sat in her small cell, bound like Kyle and left wondering where he could be. A man in a business suit came in, flanked by a pair of guards. He looked at her a moment before saying: open the cell.

The guards complied and the man was allowed inside. The guards closed the cell door before standing guard outside it.

"You can leave" the suit said to them.

"Sir, that's not a good idea, you read the briefing packet" one of the guards said.

"I'm well aware of that, now leave."

"Sir" one of the guards said as they both walked away, leaving Kelly with the suit.

"I have a proposition for you, one you can't risk turning down" he said.

--

"No, this isn't real, you're not Kyle!" David said after Kyle was finished talking. Catlin refused to even look at him, declaring this some big crewel joke and she promptly walked off to the other end of the commissary.

"Look, David, I didn't want to believe it either" Mike said, "but I'm telling you that's your brother."

"I've seen a lot of weird shit these past two days, but I'm not believing this" David said.

"Last time you were home, you were ambushed by Josh" Kyle said, "he tried to hit you with a..."

"Water balloon" David said.

"Then you gave him a talking to about respect for soldiers" Kyle continued, "told him he'd be a Marine just like..."

"his two brothers" David said. He leaned forward on the table and rubbed his temples. "This is too much to take in."

"look, I'm telling the truth" Kyle said, "I'm sorry you had to find out this way."

"I need some time" David said.

Kyle nodded and left the table, Mike staying with David as Kyle found another table to sit at. He wondered why Kelly hadn't been brought in yet, they probably thought that the two Spartans combined would be able to overcome the guard detail, and they were right. Suddenly, Catlin sat across from Kyle, the look in here eyes told Kyle she was trying to keep from crying.

"Look, I don't know who the hell you really are you where the fuck you get off saying you're my dead boyfriend!" She said in anger, "part of me can't dismiss what you said, I want you to prove to me you're him."

Kyle nodded.

"When I asked Eric out last year, right before February break, what happened?"

"He said no, called you unattractive and damn near made you break down in tears if I hadn't stepped in and brought you into the stairwell" Kyle said, "you cried a little on my shoulder."

"Just stop it, ok!" Catlin said, "I don't know who you really are, or if you are really Kyle. For now I'll tolerate you, unless I see some DNA crap that says you are Kyle."

"Fair enough" Kyle replied.

He looked over at the federal agent who had stepped out into the hall to talk on his cell phone. He was having a very heated conversation with whoever was on the other line and thanks to his enhanced hearing, Kyle was able to eavesdrop.

"Sir, this man is a wanted criminal, highly dangerous sand you want an audience!?.... no sir, I am not subverting your authority.... sir, this man could kill you.... I understand..... sir! That's not nearly enough protection, at least let me put him in heavier restraints.... understood, sir."

The Agent walked back in and signaled the guards to move towards Kyle who stood up, knowing they were bringing him somewhere else. They cuffed him once more and led him through the halls of the complex, until they arrived at the opposite wing. There was increased security around a door at the end of a hallway the guards forced him down. Just before reaching the door, the agent pulled Kyle aside and pushed him up against the wall.

"If you try any funny stuff in there, there won't be any Marines to take you down, you'll just be shot. Understand?"

Kyle nodded and the guards pushed him through the door and into a conference room that had a circular table and was filled with men in suits. Most of them reached into their jackets and were probably keeping a firm grip on their pistols. Two men standing on the opposite end of the table looked over at Kyle, one was an older man and the other was a black man with short hair and somewhat large ears. He was reading a file folder when Kyle walk in and closed it.

"Have a seat" the black man said.

Kyle was let go by the guards and directed to the sat at the opposite end from the two men.

"I wish this meeting was under better circumstances" the black man said, "however I need some questions answered. And I hear you haven't been very forthcoming."

Kyle remained silent like he had with the NCIS guy.

The black man walked towards Kyle which caused the guards to tighten their holds on their weapons. He stopped next to Kyle and opened his folder, removed a piece of paper and set in front of Kyle. He reached out with his cuffed ands and pulled it closer, it was two sets of DNA and a bunch of lab readings.

"According tho this DNA test, you technically shouldn't exist, Mr Stevens" he said, "nor should you be this old. However DNA doesn't lie, so here you are, alive and well."

He reached into the folder and pulled out some statements and also put them on the table.

"According to these, on the day you died, four men witnessed a teenage boy, Kyle Stevens, seemingly vanish at the hands of a big guy in a green spacesuit" the man said. "They informed the police who dispatched a cruiser to the Stevens residence, and after being not welcomed in my Mrs Stevens the officers went around back and found two people, also in green spacesuits. They ordered them to freeze and that when one of them fired on the officers. The man that was shot died on the way to the hospital from blood loss. Forensic reports say the bullet fragmented on impact and simply did too much damage to his femoral."

_Shit _Kyle thought to himself.

"The two people at the Stevens residence were taken into custody, and then-Captain Alan Stevens was granted leave to go see them. These two spacemen attacked the Alexandria police department HQ, broke in, visited the Stevens and then left. They were cornered outside when one of them used what could only be described as an energy laser of some sort. Then they vanished. After further questioning, the Stevens admitted that their son, Kyle had been transported, in his words, to a 'parallel universe by his future self, where the realm of the videogame Halo actually exists'. They would have written them off as insane if it wasn't for that laser show that I'm sure you put on, and the testimony of a Michael Wilson who confessed to hiding you."

Kyle made eye contact with the black man for only a few seconds before looking back at the collection of papers on the table.

"The Bush administration covered it up, swore all involved parties to secrecy and made them sign a few papers detailing that if you or your friend ever came back, they call the government," the man continued, "now your friend Michael, he was under surveillance because FBI determined that he would be the most likely person you'd go to if you came back. Low and behold, he led the FBI to you and your parents cooperated to take you into custody." He put his folder down and crossed his arms. "What I don't get is why you and your friend allowed yourself to be taken. From what I understand you're supposed to be some kind of super soldier that could easily handle the force sent to arrest you, yet you allowed yourselves to be taken, why?"

"I didn't want to hurt anyone else" Kyle said, he looked up at the man, "you have me, don't press charges against my family or my friends."

"We may have you in custody, but there are still several questions I need answered", he reached into his folder again and removed a picture taken from the gun camera of a fighter. On it was they very blurry, but unmistakable image of a Pelican initiating a climb.

"This craft was spotted entering Iraqi airspace, pursued by Iranian F-14s. The only reason we took an interest was because you had a CIA operative aboard. What you didn't know is that he had a tracking device implanted under his skin, we were tracking this operative. Satellites saw your craft leave the atmosphere and head into orbit. It flew until it seemingly vanished, we lost the signal too. It reappeared in a forest outside Langley, Virginia where we recovered the operative. He told us about what happened in Iran, everything. That's when we had to take you in, to get some answers."

"I'm not giving you any" Kyle said.

"Perhaps you don't know who I am" the man said.

"I've known people like you all my life, you're all the same" Kyle said.

The man smirked and reached into his jacket, removed a small wallet that was filled with plastic cards and removed one of them. He set in front of Kyle who looked at it. It was plain and red with a picture of the man along with a few strings of numbers. In one corner however was the US seal and written beneath the picture was the man's name and position. Kyle's eyes widened when he read it: 44th President of the United States of America.

"Somehow I don't think you've known people like me" the president said. "I want to let you know, Mr Stevens, I'm willing to annul the agreements that my predecessor put in place, so long as I get answers to my questions."

"And if I don't?" Kyle asked.

"Your family won't be held accountable for what they did. Your friend Michael's sentence will be reduced, he'll still serve time though. Your brother, David, is technically UA after an engagement, the Marine Corps will deal with him under their regulations. Your friend downstairs is wanted for the murder of three police officers and will be turned dover to the department to justice for formal charges to be filed", the president said, "I don't agree with the punishment set by my predecessor, however I can't just let them get away, scott free. I'm willing to extend a pardon to everyone involved including yourself if you just cooperate. I'm pardoning your parents as a sign of good faith."

"You could have stopped this earlier if you didn't like the agreements, why didn't you?" Kyle asked.

"Because my secretary of defense", he nodded to the other man Kyle saw earlier, "kept me in the dark, he's a holdover form the last administration and was in charge of brokering the deal with your parents. I was only made aware of all of this after the incident in the middle east."

"So what do you want?" Kyle asked.

**April 26, 2009**

**location: Earth orbit- UNSC _Spirit of Fire_**

The Master Chief relaxed for the first time in weeks. He had been assigned a small cabin on the Spirit that more than suited his needs. After a long shower he quickly ate his first full meal since the slipspace ride to Delta Halo on the _In Amber Clad. _After eating he put his armor back on which earned a curious look from Cortana. She was plugged into a holopad in the room that was isolated from the main computer, Serina didn't take kindly to guests in her data arrays.

"Feeling more comfortable?" Cortana asked when the Chief reattached his helmet.

"You get used to it after a while", the Chief said.

He was planning to talk to Kelly until he heard that she left with Kyle to the surface, but figuring that it had been several hours, she must be back by now. He gathered Cortana and put her back inside his armor before turning to the door, but before he could open it, Cassandra came in.

"We got a problem" she said.

The Chief nodded and followed Cassandra to the bridge. Assembled at the plotting board was Linda and Douglas in full armor, Maria in BDUs like Cassandra along with Captain Cutter and a woman the Chief didn't recognize.

"We lost contact with Kyle and Kelly a few hours ago" Cassandra explained, "their radios, transponders, all dead."

"Were you tracking them visually?" The Chief asked.

"No" Serina said as she materialized on the holopad. "We de-orbited the STARS satellite earlier today."

"Cortana, could it be possible to hack into one of the local satellites already in orbit?" The Chief asked.

"Unfortunately no, 21st century satellites use significantly underpowered computers. Essentially the satellite is so dumbed down that I can't even access it" Cortana said. "I could write a program to enter the satellite's computers, but it would take several hours to match it to 21st century parameters."

"Get started" Cutter said.

"Captain, I've just detected an incoming transmission on the Lieutenant Commander's radio" Serina said.

"Put it up" Cutter ordered.

"_Repeat, Spirit of Fire, do you read?"_

"We're here, Commander. What's your status? Cutter asked.

"_Sir, I'm here with someone who wants to meet with you as soon as possible."_

"Commander, I thought I ordered you not to contact anyone else on the surface."

"_Well this person contacted me, so to speak. Sir, the man who wants to meet with you is the president of the United States."_

**

* * *

**

April 26, 2009

**location: Earth, North America- FBI Quantico**

Kyle stood with the president and his security detail on the side lawn of the FBI building where Kyle had instructed the phantom to land.

"Sir, what about my brother and my friends?" Kyle asked.

"Unless I grant a pardon, I can't release them, except for the girl brought in with your friend the" president said. "And that all depends on how cooperative your Captain is going to be."

Kyle looked back up at the sky and watched as a green phantom dropship materialized out of thin air. The secret service agents immediately drew their weapons as did the Marines on the lawn and pointed them at the alien craft. The belly opened up and in a flash of purple light, Captain cuter was deposited on the grass. Cutter turned back to look at the opening and nodded, the phantom taking flight shortly after that.

Secret service descended on Cutter and frisked him quickly for weapons, relieving him of his M6D that he always had strapped to his thigh. The president and Kyle then walked forward and introduced him.

"Mr president, I'm here only to negotiate the release of the two UNSC personnel you're holding hostage" Cutter said.

"The United States does not take hostages" the president said, "we're holding them in connection to crimes they're wanted for, crimes I'm willing to pardon them of. I want some questions answered first."

"We're going to have to take a trip" Kyle said to Cutter.

Cutter nodded and secret service directed them over to the other side of the lawn where four helicopters stood waiting, each had a green and white paint scheme.

"Where exactly are we going?" Cutter asked Kyle.

"The White House" Kyle said, "the president wanted to conduct the meeting there but secret service wasn't all for letting a phantom land on the south lawn."

"I assume you have a plan to get us out if things get hot?" Cutter asked.

"I'm working on it" Kyle replied.

They arrived at the helicopters and Kyle and Cutter were ushered towards one while the president was taken towards another. Once inside they lifted off and flew towards Washington, each of the helicopters rotating their position in flight.

--

On the ground, a convoy of vehicles, one of which carried Kelly, also made their way towards Washington. They were using the back roads to get to the highway when the convoy pulled over, Kelly heard shouting and the unmistakable sound of silenced weapons. The Marines in the van with Kelly were killed when armed men opened the door and rushed them. Finally the suit that approached her earlier came in, Kelly knew this was a bad idea, agreeing to his offer, but it was the only way.

"I'm glad you decided to cooperate, here's what we need you to do."


	16. Chapter 15: under siege

**Message from the General**: If some of you are starting to get annoyed with the constant cliffhangers, I'm sorry, I really am, but there's no way for me to avoid them with my story line. Its gonna pretty much be cliffhangers for the rest of the story.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**chapter 15: under siege **

**April 26, 2009**

**location: Earth, North America, Washington DC- The White House**

The four VH-3D helicopters touched down on the south lawn of the White House and remained there for several minutes as the president was escorted inside. Kyle and Captain Cutter had to wait until a secret service agent entered their helicopter carrying a black jacket.

"Put this on," he said to Cutter, "we don't want the press knowing a videogame character is coming to see the president."

Cutter complied and as he and Kyle were getting out, he said to him "I thought you said I wasn't in any of the games."

"There could have been more made after I left" Kyle replied as they descended the step ladder and onto the grass. Secret service brought them past the residence and over to a door leading into the west wing. Cutter was relieved of his jacket and the pair were escorted through the halls to an elevator which they took down. They found themselves in a small lobby before being ushered down more halls and coming to a set of doors marked 'Situation Room'. They were taken to the largest conference room which had several plasma screens mounted on the walls in addition to a large projector at th far end of the room. The president stood off to one side, talking to the man he identified earlier as the secretary of defense.

"Gentleman, have a seat" the president said as he took his seat at the head of the table, directly in front of a presidential seal on the wall. Kyle and Cutter took the seats to the president's left while the defense secretary took the one on the right.

"Lets just cut to the chase, shall we?" The president said, "we know you have a ship in orbit, and judging from Captain Cutter's appearance here, the ship in orbit is most likely this one."

On the wall screen, an image of the Spirit of Fire appeared.

"The UNSC _Spirit of Fire_, phoenix class colony conversion" the secretary of defense read from a folder.

"How exactly did you get this information?" Cutter asked.

"This videogame for the Xbox console" the secretary continued as an image of an Xbox game appeared. On the front were three Spartans in a snowy environment with the words Halo Wars written at the top.

"What I want to know is why a ship filled with troops and armored vehicles is sitting in orbit right now?" The president said, "obviously you don't want to alert the public which is why my analysts are telling me your ship is using some sort of cloaking device. Naturally when someone has that much firepower parked over the country I tend to be suspicious, as anyone would. Why are you here?"

"I can't answer that" Kyle said.

"Mr Stevens, remember my offer, your friends get a pardon or they get a reduced sentence" the president cautioned. "Look, I can tell whatever plan you have here has just been blown out of the water. Sure you might be able to enact it, but not without hurting people which is what you told me you wouldn't want to have happen again."

Kyle knew he was right, any hope of getting his family out quietly was gone, they had been caught and any hope of getting his friends, his brother or even Kelly was going to cost lives.

"Mr president, understand my only reason for coming down here is to negotiate the release of my crew" Cutter said.

"Captain, understand they're wanted criminals and under US law we have every legal right to detain, try and sentence them" the president replied.

"Any attempt to do so would be an act of aggression on your part, which in my opinion isn't a wise move on your part considering the _Spirit_ is sitting in orbit" Cutter said.

"That sounded an awful lot like a threat" the defense secretary said.

"Enough!" Kyle said, "you want the truth, fine, I'll give it to you. Homicidal aliens are coming to Earth to exterminate you, like they did to hundreds of UNSC worlds! Now do you know why we kept it from you!?"

The president and secretary sat shell shocked until the defense secretary spoke.

"Are you saying that these aliens, are the same ones from the game? These..." he looked at his briefing packet for reference ...these Covenant?"

"Yes" Kyle replied.

"Commander, I hope you realize what you just did" Cutter said.

"The right thing, sir" Kyle said, "we should have done it from day one. I know you believe its the right thing to do too, sir."

"Believing its right and believing its practical are two separate things" Cutter said. "I won't sacrifice my ship and crew in a doomed attempt to save a world that really holds no meaning to the UNSC.

"Thats what the Admirals and Generals said about Harvest, Jericho, Biko, Coral.... Reach. The list goes on," Kyle said. "Well we're not a bunch of Admirals and Generals running a war from a mile underground and light years away from the front lines. We're here and we have a chance to redeem ourselves for everyone we left behind during the war, by taking a stand. No surrender, no retreat."

"Those are either words of a real soldier or of a fool with nothing to loose" Cutter said.

"If what you say is true, then the US armed forces will defend this country and its allies from any Covenant aggression," the president said.

"Mr president, there isn't a whole lot you could do, that's also why we didn't come forward" Kyle said. "I'm sorry but the armed forces are no match for the kind of technology the Covenant have."

"It says here you used nuclear weapons successfully," the defense secretary said, "surely they'll susceptible to an ICBM strike?"

"They'd see the missiles coming the second they left the silos," Kyle said, "and even if they didn't see them, you'd need high yield weapons, we're talking thirty or forty megatons."

"Obviously we're going to have to do more in depth planning with the joint chiefs and the full cabinet instead of us four in a room" the president said. "If you'll sign on with us, Captain."

"I won't order my crew to do this," Cutter said, "I'll ask for volunteers, send the rest back to my universe. I can't guarantee we'll be of much help."

"Its better than nothing," the president said.

"Mr president, I'll have General Denning report over here to begin discussing preliminary plans," the secretary said as he left the situation room. The president stood up which prompted Kyle and Cutter to do the same.

"I think now is the appropriate time to sign that pardon," the president said.

--

On the other side of the White House complex, Kelly was being brought in through a separate underground entrance. The guards with her were plants from the team that ambushed the convoy outside of Quantico. They approached the guard station at the end of the tunnel that held the elevator up to the White House residence. When they reached the guard station, the fakes escorting Kelly prepared to sign the log book when one of them pulled out a gun and shot one of the secret service agents. This was Kelly's cue as she easily broke out of her restraints and took two other secret service on her own. With her help, the fakes were easily able to subdue the guard post.

One of them sat at the computer terminal while the other handed Kelly a duffel containing clothes that would make her pass as secret service.

"Put them on" he said.

Kelly complied and changed her clothes. Then the guy attached a small camera to Kelly's jacket and also gave her a loaded gun and a small bag which Kelly slipped into her pocket and finally he gave her a PDA with a map of the White House.

"Remember, you have 7 minutes to plant the transponders in all the rooms marked on that map" he said to her, "failure to comply will result in the annulment of our agreement, and you wouldn't want that."

"Boss, I'm in" the other man said, "I've planted the worm, say the word and I can trigger the White House automatic lockdown."

"Seal this and the other access tunnels, then cut off the elevators to the sub levels and the EOC," the 'boss' replied. "You'd better get going."

Kelly reluctantly entered the elevator and watched as a large metal door sealed the access tunnel she'd just taken. Once inside the residence, she set out to plant all the transponders which were small cylinders no more than half an inch long, making them easy to hide. She noticed all the rooms she was tagging were large.

After five minutes, she was down to her last two rooms, both in the east wing of the White House. After tagging the visitor's foyer she proceeded into the deserted empty family theatre and placed the last tag.

"I'm finished" Kelly said into her radio.

"_Good, now stay put, you just might enjoy this part"_

Kelly wasn't enjoying any part of this and knew these guys were probably planning some sort of airstrike against the White House. However she knew she had to work for them, after the offer they gave her. What happened next however, completely took her off guard. Suddenly, a ripple began to form in mid air which resolved into a disk of energy. It was almost like a mirror, until someone stepped out. Kelly realized it wasn't an airstrike, it was an invasion they were planning.

He was dressed in full commando gear and carried a sub machine gun Kelly recognized as the Belgium made P90 used during the 21st century. His had a silencer threaded on it, as did is comrades as they came through one by one, each carrying the same load. One of them wore a beret and walked up to Kelly who was temped to use her pistol and try and kill him. That would at least alert secret service to the attack.

"I'm Major Winslow, you must be my Super soldier on the inside," he said.

"Look, I did what your friend wanted, now give me what I was promised" Kelly said.

"Of course" Winslow said, "swallow this."

Kelly was handed a small blue pill which she reluctantly took. In a matter of seconds, Kelly slumped to the floor.

"Remember, our target is the president and the ship captain. He has a super soldier with him so expect him to try and play hero. We have the advantage in numbers. Secret service are your priority, don't hit the staff. Move out!"

--

Back in the west wing, Kyle and Cutter were waiting in the Roosevelt room for the president to return with the pardon agreement. He finally came in with his entourage of secret service, paper in his hands.

"Sir, did you arrange to have my friend brought here?" Kyle asked.

"You mean the girl, yes. She was being transported by car, she should be here shortly" the president said. "I'll arrange to have you flown to Andrews Air Force base so your dropship can pick the three of you up. I'm going to hold you to your word."

"You have it" Cutter said.

Suddenly, and aide came in carrying a phone.

"Sir, a woman named Serina called the White House switchboard looking for her Captain" he said.

Cutter and Kyle exchanged glances before the president said, "route the call in here."

The aid nodded and went over to the speaker phone on the desk and transferred the call.

"Serina?" Cutter said.

"_Captain, I couldn't reach your radio and had to contact you, so this was the only practical solution."_

"That's fine, what's the problem."

"_We've detected multiple energy surges of unknown type emanating from several points in the adjacent buildings on the complex you're in. My thermal sensors have also detected the presence of forty plus individuals approaching your position from multiple vectors."_

The president and the secret service agents in the room all looked at the phone with concern.

"_The vectors appear to be an assault formation, I calculate a 92.6 percent chance of an attack on your position is..."_

"Sectors three, five and fifteen, this is Agent Hovis, check in," one of the secret service agents said into his mic. "Sectors, three five and fifteen aren't responding. All sectors, code red. White House is under possible attack. We are moving _renegade_ to _carpet_, have _stagecoach_ standing by... all units, come in!"

"They're cutting off communications, some kind of jamming" Kyle said.

"Serina, give me the exact positions of the enemy forces" Cutter said.

"_A dampening field just went up around the complex, I cannot penetrate it with my...."_ the line went dead.

"They cut the landlines" Kyle said.

"Lets move!" The Agent said as two agents flanked the president, grabbing him by the arms and keeping his head down. Kyle and Cutter followed closely behind while two more agents brought up the rear.

"We have to evacuate the staff" the president said.

"We'll take care of it, sir. Keep moving!" Agent Hovis said.

Kyle put his arm out to stop Cutter and the two secret service agents and this caused Hovis to stop with the president.

"Get down!" Kyle said as he pushed Cutter to the floor just as two armed men dressed as commandos came around the corner. The warning came too late for the two agents bringing up the rear as they boldly tried to take on the commandos. One was hit by a lucky shot in the arm by an Agent, but fell to the combined gunfire. The remaining two agents drew their weapons and risked exposing the president to return fire. Kyle darted forward with incredible speed and grabbed both commandos by their necks, smacking their heads together with enough force to not only break their necks, but destroy the helmets they were wearing. Once dead, Kyle relieved them of their P90s and tossed one of the weapons to Captain Cutter. Kyle found it difficult to get a grip on the weapon, because of it's strange design, but eventually decided to hold it with one hand.

"Is the president ok?" Kyle asked.

"I'm fine" the president said as he stood up and straightened out his suit.

"Is there some kind of secure room we can take him?" Cutter asked as he covered their six.

"The only place we could take him is the EOC underneath the east wing," Agent Hovis said, "but your lady friend said they were crawling all over it and the residence. We'd never get that far."

"Ok, is there a way out of this building?" Kyle asked.

"Yeah, I'll take the lead. Keep your head down, sir" Hovis said to the president as he and the rest of their group made their way through the winding hallways, past a staircase and to a small reception area. Agent Hovis turned the corner to check if it was clear and shrugged.

"What is it?" Kyle asked.

"See for yourself" Hovis said as he pointed down the hall where a metal divider blocked the hall way. Moving over to the computer at the receptionist desk, Hovis accessed it.

"Someone tripped the White House lockdown, dividers like that close off the exits except the main door at the residence" Hovis said.

"Alright we need another way outta here" Kyle said as he took point and scouted out upstairs while the rest waited on the stairs. Kyle waved them up and they set out frantically through the halls.

"I hear footsteps," Kyle said as his advanced hearing picked up multiple boots trampling down on a rug somewhere. He quickly opened the first door he could find and sighed as it was an office with a window. He led the group inside, pulled the curtains back and prepared to shoot the glass out.

"Wait!," Hovis said, "that glass is bullet proof, you'll never break through it."

We'll see about that Kyle said as he set his machine gun down, pressed his elbow against the glass, drew it back, and then slammed it into it. The glass around the impact point shattered and cracked, allowing Kyle to pick it apart with his hands. After a quick minute of work, he cleared the window and they now had an escape route.

"I'll go first" Kyle said as he tossed his machine gun down, then jumped, landing on all fours without making a sound. Kyle saw they were adjacent to the rose garden and the oval office. Hovis stuck his head out the window and saw that Kyle had made it down.

"We can't jump that far" he said.

"I'll catch you, we don't have time to argue" Kyle replied.

"I'm sending the president down" Hovis said.

Seconds later the president jumped from the window and was caught by Kyle in a flash who let him down.

"Take cover behind those trees" Kyle instructed the president who complied as Kyle caught Cutter, Agent Hovis and the last remaining agent. Once they were sure they hadn't been seen, they fled into the trees, hoping to avoid any pursuers who were on the grounds.

--

Across the street from the White House was the Eisenhower office building which held the majority of the president's offices and departments. Right now, it had been evacuated and the surviving secret service who either escaped the White House siege, or were on patrol outside the White House at the time. They had set up in the office building's security center and had made repeated attempts to access the White House networks or at least communicate with either the terrorists or any surviving agents. The door to the room opened and a man in a pressed, blue Air Force uniform walked in with a Lieutenant at his side, carrying a briefcase cuffed to his hand.

"General Denning, sir," the lead agent said.

"Son, I was on my way to the White House for a meeting when I got a call saying someone had initiated a siege inside," the general said.

"General, all we know is that all networks inside the White House went down thirty minutes ago and the automatic lockdown was triggered shortly after. The elevators to the EOC were shut down and the above and underground entrances sealed."

"How many people were left inside?" Denning asked.

"Between fifty and seventy five were inside the White House at the time. The president ordered most of the nonessential staff, cabinet members and the first family evacuated several hours before. Wouldn't say why but it involved a top level meeting with the secretary of defense."

"Do we have any idea where the president is?" Denning asked.

"Unknown, we know he didn't make it to the east wing and hasn't left the White House since the attack began. His detail last reported he was in the Roosevelt room."

"Continuity and football status?"

"The football codes were canceled as soon as we received conformation the ball carrier did not make it out. The vice president and the cabinet are being routed to secure locations. The attorney general has stated the 25th amendment can be enacted at any time after a senior military official assesses the situation, that'd be you, sir."

The general took a deep breath before continuing, "call the secretary of defense and tell him to communicate to the secretary of state that the president is out of contact and possibly a hostage. The 25th amendment hereby applies."

"That won't be necessary, general," the president said as he strode into the security office along with his remaining entourage and Kyle and Cutter.

"Mr president, sir, its a relief to see you," Denning said. "If you'll wait I'll ensure a motorcade is brought around to take you to a secure location."

"That won't be necessary, I'm staying here to personally observe the rescue efforts. What's our status?"

"We have a light perimeter locked down around the White House complex, thankfully its the dead of night otherwise the press would have gotten wind of what's going on," the senor agent said. "We've contacted the FBI, Pentagon and other senior officials, a full perimeter should be established with in the next ten minutes."

"Sir, we're receiving a call from inside the White House" another agent said.

"Put it up" Denning said.

"_I'll make this brief, I'm the man in control of the White House. Do not establish a law enforcement perimeter around the complex or we'll start executing hostages. I also have the president and several of his aides hostage. Make no attempt to implement the 25th amendment or I'll execute a member of his staff. Any attempt to retake the complex will result in the death of all hostages."_

"I need conformation that you have the president before I make any kind of..."

"Line went dead, sir."

"Well at least we know he's bluffing" Kyle said.

"And who exactly are you?" Denning asked.

"The reason I'm here, General" the president said, coming to Kyle's defense. "If you have anything that can help retake the building with minimum loss of life..."

Spartans weren't designed for hostage rescue, but we can manage," Kyle said. "Its not going to be pretty, you can guarantee a firefight. Also since we can't use thermals, we have no idea what we're walking into. However he'll have his guard down because he thinks that we think he has you as a hostage. He knows FBI won't make an attempt to retake the building if the president is a hostage, he'll be lax on his perimeter."

"I'll take any help I can get that doesn't result in more lives being lost," the president said.

"I need to contact my ship then," Cutter said, "see if we can get some reinforcements."

"Excuse me, Mr president, just who the hell are these people?", Denning asked.

"I take it you didn't read what's in the case", the president said to the general, "might want to take a look."

--

Close to forty five minutes later, Kyle stood with Captain Cutter and general Denning in one of the two interior courtyard parking lots at the executive office building. The general had a hard time believing the briefing packet inside the case, and Kyle decided to show him the truth. Right then and there, a Covenant phantom decloaked and hovered above the parking lot. The general staggered back at the sight of the green dropship, which was almost too large to fit in the small lot. The bottom opened up and Maria and Cassandra were deposited, in full MJOLNIR armor.

"Sir, its good to see you" Cassandra said.

"Where's everyone else?" Kyle asked.

"Well... someone suggested a different plan for retaking the building" Maria said.

"Oh you gotta be kidding me" Kyle said as he watched what left the dropship next.

--

Inside the White House, Major Winslow observed his prisoners as they were held captive in the center hall on the ground floor. His men had either killed or captured most of the secret service and had them under guard in the library. Slumped against one of the walls however was Kelly as she was being tended to by his medic.

"What's her status?"

"I gave her enough sedative to knock down an elephant the medic said. "She'll be all set for transport."

"Good, I'll have second squad open up the..."

"_Sir, we've got incoming!"_ One of Winslow's soldiers said over his radio.

"What the hell are you talking about, they think we have the president! They won't try anything stupid."

"_Sir, I don't know what the hell this little thing is, its coming right for you..."_ The radio went dead.

"Shit! Get her downstairs and out of here!" Winslow barked.

Two of his men assisted the medic and brought Kelly to a staircase just as a blue orb rounded the corner and floated towards Winslow. His men raised their guns and pointed them at the strange device.

"Hello, might I assume you're in charge of this assault?" It asked. "I am 6803 Autonomous Flash, monitor of stealth shipyard 8-G. I have been sent on behalf of a 'President of the United States' to negotiate your surrender."

"What... are you?" Winslow asked.

"I'm afraid you do not have the necessary clearance to be made aware of my specifications, meddler," the monitor replied. "You have been offered the chance for complete, unconditional surrender of your men and the release of the captives, do you wish to comply?"

Major Winslow drew his side arm, and fired at the monitor, the bullet simply ricocheting off its casing.

"I will accept that as non-compliance, which is highly unrecommended" the monitor said as his central eye started to glow.

The rest of the commandos opened fire at the monitor, their bullets doing nothing against the casing. Suddenly, the light expanded into a bubble that quickly spread around the room, knocking everyone unconscious, including the hostages. The monitor then floated over to a collection of computer equipment that was connected to a small antenna. His eye quickly turned red and unleashed a blast of concentrated plasma that melted the computers.

--

Underneath the streets, Kyle waited with Cassandra, Maria and scores of secret service in front of one of the White House underground entrances. The large blast door opened and the monitor hovered on the other side.

"I take it the plan worked?" Kyle asked.

"Yes, the stun field has incapacitated the hostages and enemy force guarding them. I have also repeated the process in all remaining sectors and I'm confident that all remaining forces have been neutralized."

"Move out" Kyle said to the secret service as they all took the nearby staircase back up into the west wing. All around them were the unconscious bodies of the commandos, bullet holes in some places stood as a reminder to the futile firefight they put up against the monitor. Once secret service had determined the west wing was clear, Kyle, Cassandra and Maria proceeded into the residence and found the hostages, all unconscious along with their captors.

"This one was their leader, if he has any useful information on where he took the other reclaimer you'd best ask him for it" the monitor said.

"What other reclaimer?" Kyle asked.

"The female reclaimer, I saw them move her to a lower level of this building just as I arrived in this room" the monitor said.

It only took Kyle a split second to remember Kelly was on her way over here when the attack began.

"Why the hell didn't you tell me this sooner!?" Kyle barked at the monitor, "which way did they go?"

"Those stairs, over here" the monitor said as he floated over to the staircase. Kyle didn't waste another second as he darted down the small staircase and past several other rooms before he noticed a door ajar. He opened it, and looked around, it was a storage room of some kind. In the middle of the floor was a large hole and surrounding it were empty crates that were brought in. He opened one of them and discovered a wet suit and breathing gear. Looking back at the hole, Kyle saw it was full of water. He was prepare to dive in and see where it went when Maria's gauntlet caught his arm.

"Unless you can breathe underwater, I wouldn't recommend it" she said, "besides, its too late by now, they got a head start."

Kyle sank to his knees at the rim of the hole and only one thought was racing through his mind.

How could have been so careless?

**

* * *

**

April 27, 2009

**location: Earth, North America, Washington, DC- The White House**

Kyle sat one one of the chairs that lined the situation room's wall as FBI and military briefed the president on their preliminary findings on the White House attack. Most of what went on inside the building wasn't noticed by the public, however the mobilization outside by FBI and military raised a few eyebrows that was easily quelled with a press release saying a 'drill' happened during the night to test White House security.

All of this didn't matter to Kyle as he sat there, more guilty than he'd ever felt. He'd been so concerned with doing the right thing that he forgot about the one person who truly mattered to him.

"Sir, we still haven't been able to determine how the hostiles managed to enter the White House but we suspect they might have used the same route that a handful used to escape," General Denning as he used a laser pointer to show the president a map of the area surrounding the White House. "There's an old aqueduct built during the 19th century that runs right to the Potomac. It was used to supply watter to the residence before modern plumbing was installed."

"They used it to enter?" The president asked.

"We know they used it to escape, but as for entering, it doesn't fit from what we know. They got complete control of the residence and both wings inside of ten minutes, caught secret service completely off guard," Denning said.

"What about that woman on the phone, the strange readings she mentioned?" The president asked.

"Oh, we're still looking them over" Kyle said. He had to be careful what he said to certain people in the room, not everyone had been brought up to speed on who he was.

"Mr president, obviously the White House is vulnerable" Denning said, cutting to the chase, "we need to move you to a more secure location, Camp David? Air Force One would be better for security."

"Secret service agrees with this assessment," Agent Hovis said, "Air Force One would be the better choice. I'll see to it your family is moved to a secure location."

"I don't like the idea of abandoning the capital in a time of imminent crisis" the president said.

"Sir, we have no way of verifying what that man has told you!" Denning said pointing a finger at Kyle.

"Everyone else, but the two of you," the president said to Denning and Kyle, "leave now."

The remaining military, secret service and FBI left the room, leaving the three of them alone.

"General, I'm not saying I believe him either, but after looking at the briefing packet my predecessor left on this subject, I can't just dismiss it," the president said.

"Sir, what I'm telling you is the truth, no one where I live would take this as a joke and neither should you" Kyle said. "The Covenant are the most feared military force in that universe, you've seen one of their ships, general. You see what kind of technology they have. Our offer of help is still on the table."

"Any formal agreement will have to wait until you present this to the joint chiefs of staff," Denning said, "I'm not saying I believe you, but I'll make sure you're at least heard out."

"Thank you" Kyle said.

A military aide entered the room and whispered something in the general's ear before handing him a small plastic bag and a flash drive, then left the room.

"Mr president, I think you'll be very interested in this" Denning said as he plugged the flash drive into a USB port. On the main screen a video clip appeared. "Out technicians were able to reconstitute security camera footage of the last few minutes before the attack."

The footage played and Kyle was completely shell shocked at what he was seeing. Kelly, sneaking around a planting something around the White House, she was helping them somehow!

"She's the same person who was arrested yesterday morning with Mr Stevens here," Denning said. "Sergeant of the guard!"

A Marine entered the room accompanied by two others dressed in full battle gear.

"Arrest this man immediately!" Denning spat as he pointed at Kyle.

One of the Marines prepared to move behind Kyle with a set of riot cuffs when he barked, "wait! Look I know what this looks like, but Kelly wouldn't have done this unless she had a good reason."

"Like undermining the government and assassinating the president!?" Denning barked.

"Sir, I know her a hell of a lot better than you and frankly I know she would never be a willing participant in something like this!" Kyle retorted.

"General, this man from what I read has the strength to overpower all three of those Marines and frankly, could have killed me or taken me hostage at any time. Instead I watched him kill two men who really wanted me dead and not only saved my life but through his actions, saved the lives of every one of those hostages the president said. Innocent until proven guilty, and guilt by association is no fair way to conduct the law. Mr Stevens still retains his US citizenship, treating him like an enemy combatant won't fly so long as I'm president, am I understood?"

"Yes, sir" Denning said.

"I have a hard time believing a Spartan was some how coerced into working for these terrorists. Unfortunately, until I see evidence proving her innocence, she's considered an accessory to the attack and a wanted felon, again."

"I understand" Kyle said as he lowered his head.

"However, it makes the FBI finding her a lot easier, and maybe she'll have the proof we need to exonerate her," the president said. "General, you can continue your briefing."

"Sir, secret service found all of the devices this 'Kelly' planted," the general said as he opened the baggie and showed the small device to them. "Our technicians confirmed that whatever circuitry this thing used was burnt out. What they were for, we still have no idea. The security footage might be able to tell us more, assuming we can reconstitute it."

"Maybe my people can help" Kyle said.

"I think your people have helped enough..."

"We'd be glad to have your assistance," the president said, interrupting Denning.

The Marines who hand entered earlier returned and the Sergeant of the guard approached the president.

"Sir, secret service detained a woman at the Pennsylvania avenue gate who kept demanding access to the White House to speak with you, says her name is Cathrine Halsey."

**Message from the general (again):** ok, I know the terrorists who attacked the White House seem a bit vague on their origins, I promise to explain them in the next chapter. Also, be prepared for a brief crossover of sorts.


	17. Chapter 16: revelations

**Message from the General: **ok folks, this is the big bombshell chapter for this Kyle fic, so brace yourselves. I would like everyone to leave a review at the end on what they thought.

**Disclaimer: I don't own halo, all OCs are mine**

**chapter 16: revelations**

**April 27, 2009**

**location: Earth, North America, Washington, DC- The White House**

Doctor Halsey sat in a chair in the situation room, viewing the recently reconstituted footage of the attack as it happened. Kyle, the president, general Denning and the Spirit crew via a SATCOM uplink watched as the strange portals appeared all over the White House and began spewing troops. Kyle also watched the meeting in the theatre room between Kelly and their leader. The image was still too grainy to make out much but Kyle saw she fell unconscious after putting something in her mouth. After the footage was done playing, Halsey removed her glasses and shook her head.

"It was them" she muttered.

"You said you knew who these people were, tell us. Why do they have Kelly?" Kyle kept asking.

"Kyle, you need to understand that these people are powerful, finding Kelly is going to be next to impossible" Halsey said.

"_Doctor, just take it from the top"_ Captain Cutter said on the video screen, having returned to the _Spirit_ several hours ago.

"Very well, Captain" Halsey said. "I don't know what happened with the crystal, could have been damage from Covenant weapons fire, a malfunction, I'm not sure. It split us up, I couldn't find the rest of Blue Team anywhere where I landed."

"Which was where exactly?" Kyle asked.

"They told me it was somewhere in rural China," Halsey said. "The people who found me, they're not from this universe. They told me they work for a corporation in a parallel Earth called Crosstime Traffic."

"Crosstime traffic? Are you serious?" Denning asked, "that's a book series here, my grandson reads them all the time."

"They're aware someone on this Earth wrote a remarkable account of their universe and what they do" Halsey said, "the part of the corporation I encountered is a much more secretive entity, devoted to getting their goals no batter the cost."

"And what exactly are their goals?" Kyle asked.

"Their Earth lacks the same abundance of natural resources as yours or mine, they're either too deep or don't exist like their counterparts" Halsey said. "They trade with several parallel earths for resources, but it still took them an extra century to reach the technological development level of the earthy 21st century. Somehow they detected myself and Blue Team's transition to this universe, then came here. I was the only one they could track down, they never found the rest of the team as far as I know."

"We found Linda in the middle of Iran" Kyle said, "she's the only other one we found, until you showed up. Why did this Crosstime Traffic have you anyway?"

"They took my equipment after they found me, analyzed it and realized it was hundreds of years beyond anything they had available. They've only encountered a handful of technologically advanced parallel earths and they refused to share their technology with them. When they captured me I agreed to help them, to some degree."

"What exactly did you give them?" The president asked.

"Only humanitarian technologies, vaccines, flash cloning, medical tech mostly. They starting pressing on me to give them military technology, MAC guns, the formula for Titanium-A. They learned the names from what data they could decrypt from my laptop, which was very little I might add. They finally relented and asked only for the Spartan augmentation procedures and genetic screens. I don't know how they found out about that, it certainly wasn't from my computer. But seeing that you're here, Kyle, it doesn't take much to figure out why."

"Why did they take Kelly?" Kyle asked.

"They didn't take her, Kyle" Halsey said, "this you're not going to like, but its the truth. She made a deal to go with them, willingly, in exchange for my release. Apparently they also amended it to include helping them to seize this building and the president here."

"Did you see her at all, do you know where they took her?" Kyle asked.

"I'm sorry, Kyle, I don't know anymore. They drugged me when they moved me from their facility. I woke up in a van only a few minutes before they dropped me off. That's when they told me everything."

"Excuse me, sirs" a Marine said as he walked in holding a fabric field bag, "we searched Ms Halsey's belongings and couldn't find evidence of trackers, microphones or tech similar to what we found earlier."

"Thank you" Denning said as he took the bad and handed it back to Halsey, inside was a small tool kit and her laptop computer.

"No doubt they copied the drives, however it will take them several years to break the encryptions I put in place" Halsey said. "He mentioned something about finding some kind of tech."

"Just these" Denning said as he showed Halsey the devices. "That Spartan was planting them in rooms where those men appeared."

"They showed me specifications for the technology they use to travel between parallel universes" Halsey said. "Its much more primitive than the Forerunner crystals. It requires a beacon placed on a parallel universe to allow large scale crossings, like the one used in the attack on this building."

"So what you're saying is they need to use a relay in order to make a precise crossing?" Kyle asked.

"Yes, they can make a blind crossing, but usually a handful of people can travel through. They normally bring a beacon with them, so they can return home. I'm guessing these items you recovered, that Kelly planted, were beacons," Halsey said, "however these are much smaller the the ones I saw, my guess is that they're designed to work only once."

"That theory would support the fried circuitry we found in them" Denning said. "At least we don't have to worry about anymore attacks."

"But if they knew it was a one way trip, that means the people who took Kelly must have another way back, maybe even a larger force already here Kyle said."

"They probably took her to study her, seeing as I refused to give them information on the Spartan project" Halsey said. "They must have also found out about my universe being a franchise here, much the same way they learned their world was a series of books."

"Doctor, can you tell us anything else about their facility, like where it is?" Kyle pressed.

"I'm sorry, I've told you everything I know" Halsey said, "I know what she means to you, I'm truly sorry I can't tell you anymore."

"Its fine, doctor!" Kyle said, becoming slightly agitated at the situation. "I need to clear my head."

With that, he left the situation room. Cutter then cleared his throat on the video monitor.

"_Doctor, if you wish I can see that you're transported aboard ASAP"_ Cutter said.

"Thank you, Captain, but I have something I need to attend to down here" Halsey said, "if memory serves, a Professor Ellen Anders was assigned to your ship at the time of its disappearance, might I assume she's still aboard?"

"That's correct."

"I'd like to request her and one other piece of equipment, the AI Kalmiya, be brought down" Halsey said.

"Consider it done" Cutter said before he winked off the screen.

"I'd like to know what this other business you have is?" The president said.

"All in due time, Mr president. Which brings me to something else, I have a request."

**

* * *

**

April 27, 2009

**location: Earth, North America, Alexandria, VA- Stevens residence**

The secret service dropped Kyle off at his old house where two other secret service cars stood waiting, having been put there to protect Kyle's family by the president. He nodded to the agent at the door and was allowed inside. The windows still hadn't been replaced, but a few carpenters were already at work making assessments for repair. The overturned furniture has been put back and the broken glass swept up. Kyle found his mother and father in his study, the only ground floor room that hadn't been damaged.

"Kyle, you're alright!" Marlyn said as she embraced her son.

"The secret service told us you, your friend and David had been arrested on those murder charges from last year" Alan said.

"Its fine, I got it all sorted out" Kyle said, "David should be home soon."

I don't get it, how did you manage all that? Alan asked.

Kyle then went on to explain his meeting with the president and the deal they made to pardon everyone involved. He had to leave out the White House siege at the request of the secret service.

"Kyle, something else is bothering you" Marlyn said.

"The other Spartan who was with me, Kelly. Someone took her," Kyle said. "I can't go into details, but we have no leads on where she might be."

"I'm sorry, Kyle" Marlyn said.

"No, mom, it was my fault. I should have been more careful, I should have kept an eye on her" Kyle said.

"Kyle, I understand why you're looking out for her, she told me she has a daughter and you just want to make sure they're reunited" Marlyn said.

"Wait, she told you that?" Kyle asked.

"Yes, and Kyle I can tell you like her a lot more than as a friend, but you of all people have to know she's involved with someone else" Marlyn said.

"Its not like that, mom" Kyle said.

"Is there something you're not telling us" Alan asked, sensing his son was holding back on something.

"Well... I'm the someone else, mom. We're involved," Kyle said.

Oh, well then what happened to the father of her kid, don't tell me Kelly's the only one that little girl has left? Marlyn asked.

"No mom, I'm her dad," Kyle finally admitted.

"Wait, Kelly's daughter... Alan" started to ask.

"Is _our_ daughter" Kyle finished.

"Oh Kyle," Marlyn said as she hugged her son again, "I'm so happy for you. But why on Earth didn't you tell us sooner?"

"Son, I take it the two of you aren't married?" Alan asked.

"Kyle, do you know how morally incorrect it is for you to have kids out of wedlock?" Alan asked in an aggravated tone.

"This is exactly why I didn't tell you earlier, because I knew you'd throw a fit about me not being married and adhering to your perfect conservative family lifestyle!" Kyle yelled back.

"Kyle, calm down, I'm doing this because how will your daughter feel when she's growing up and feels different because her parents aren't married?"

"Dad, when the hell are you gonna realize that she's already way different than any other kid on the planet. When are you gonna also realize I live in a completely different time where shit like that doesn't even matter anymore!?"

Kyle left the room and also the house, needing somewhere else to clear his head.

**

* * *

**

April 27, 2009

**location: Earth, North America, Washington, DC- HHS building**

Doctor Halsey stood inside the underground parking garage of the department of health and human services as a motorcade from Andrews AFB pulled up. From one of the cars came Professor Anders, dressed in the same civilian clothing she'd been wearing for the past week. On her shoulder was a satchel containing her equipment.

"Hello Ellen" Halsey said as she extended her hand, which Anders reluctantly took.

"Doctor," Anders replied.

"Is that any way to say hi to your aunt?" Halsey asked.

"I'd like to skip the extended family reunion if its all the same to you" Anders said.

"Very well" Halsey said, "I can still see you have some ill will over what happened. If you'll follow me, we can get started."

Halsey led Anders to the elevators which they rode to the third floor. Halsey then brought Anders to a room with multiple server towers, computers, a conference table with several chairs and surprisingly, a coffee machine in one corer. Halsey's laptop was set up at one end of the table with fiber optic cables running from it into several server towers. Anders set her bag down further down the table from Halsey's position and unpacked her own computer.

"So what is it exactly you want me to do?" Anders asked.

"I need you to analyze a specific DNA strand with that of several similar ones and report any discrepancies" Halsey said. "I assume you brought Kalmiya?"

Anders reached into her pocket and removed Kalmiya's data chip which she handed to Halsey who then plugged it into her laptop. Kalmiya appeared on the holopad moments later.

"Doctor! They told me that they found you on the surface, I'm glad you're ok" Kalmiya said.

"Thank you, Kalmiya. But we don't have time to chat, we're here to conduct research into project: _origins."_

"Understood, doctor, what do you need me to do?" Kalmiya asked.

"This room is the national DNA registry for the United States. Search it for similar profiles" Halsey said.

"Yes doctor."

"Project origins?" Anders asked.

"I'll explain later" Halsey said as she handed Anders a data chip, "this contains the DNA profiles I want you to compare."

Anders took the chip and inserted it to her own computer while Halsey returned to hers, but not before stopping by the coffee machine.

"So what's the history between the two of you?" Kalmiya asked, "Doctor Halsey rarely talks about you."

"I'm sure she told you I'm her niece" Anders said, "Halsey and my mother were friends, and she introduced my mother to my father, her older brother."

"They separated a few years after Ellen was born" Halsey said, "her mother, Denise, suggested Ellen study under me while she was applying for her degree in genetics. We had a sort of falling out during the program."

"She stole a neural interface design I had been working on in my spare time" Anders said.

"I had my reasons" Halsey retorted, "anyway, Ellen has gone to great lengths to distance herself from me, even changing her last name at the request of her mother."

"I wanted to make a name for myself in the scientific community, not ride the waves of the infamous Halseys" Anders said. "So I published my papers under the surname Anders instead of Halsey, I eventually changed it."

"All this feuding over a simple neural interface design?" Kalmiya asked.

"It wasn't just any design, this one was the testbed for the final version that I tried out on Kyle and John" Halsey said. "I took the design rather than drag Ellen into ONI black ops, which she despises I might add."

"Funny, you didn't seem to have a problem r_ecommending_ me to them to be assigned to the _Spirit of Fire_," Anders said.

"Can we put off the bickering for a few minutes" Kalmiya said, "my scan results are complete, no other DNA profiles match our target."

"None, out of 300 million people?" Halsey asked.

"I'm afraid so" Kalmiya said.

"Ellen, how about your results?" Halsey asked.

"I'm getting them in now" Anders said, "there isn't a match to the specific sequences you highlighted here on any of the other strands. Where did you get these samples anyway, and what do these results mean?"

"Either the greatest discovery ever, or a potential threat" Halsey said.

--

Not far from the HHS building, Kyle sat in front of a reflecting pool in front of the capitol building, looking out at the rest of the national mall. He'd come back to DC because it was painfully obvious that his parent's house wasn't so peaceful as he thought, and he didn't want to face his father again. He was only vaguely aware someone was sneaking up on him, and doing a very lousy job at it.

"Come out, I know you're there" Kyle said.

Kyle turned his head to see Catlin shrugging out from behind a tree.

"Look, um, your parents, I mean Kyle's parents tole me I might find you here" she said.

"I thought I made it clear who I was" Kyle said.

"Look, you did, and... your parents and Mike did too. I wanted to apologize for flipping out yesterday" Catlin said. "I've been a mess, I have been since you died... I mean disappeared, or whatever the hell it was you did. Its my fault."

"Me ending up in the Halo universe was my fault alone, Catlin" Kyle said. "I'm sure Mike explained."

"No Kyle, I was the one who made you some to the party in the first place. I saw Mike there and asked him to get you to come down, I wanted to make up with you Kyle, I wanted to get back together" Catlin said. "If I had just come to you in the first place instead of getting you to come to me, you wouldn't have ended up..."

"Catlin, its not your fault" Kyle said as he walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "I got to do things that were beyond anyone's wildest dreams and I ended up changing the end of Halo for the better. I had the chance to change things and put them back the way they were, but I didn't so I could get the chance to save lives."

"I suppose it was worth it then" Catlin said. "Kyle, do you still like me, I mean the way you used to?"

"No, and something like that just wouldn't be possible" Kyle said.

"I knew that, you're like thirty years old or something, way to old for me" Catlin said.

"I'm older than thirty" Kyle said. "Listen, I need you to contact someone for me and get them to meet me at your place."

"Who?" Catlin asked.

Before Kyle could say anything, a black SUV pulled up and two men got out. They flashed Kyle their secret service credentials.

"Mr Stevens, the president requested your presence at the White House immediately" one of the agents said.

"The president, as in president Oba..."

Catlin didn't get to finish her comment as Kyle whispered in her ear instructions for contacting someone. Kyle then got in the car with the agents and was driven off.

**

* * *

**

April 27, 2009

**location: Earth, North America, Washington, DC- The White House**

Due to traffic, it was early evening by the time Kyle arrived at the White House. After being screened by secret service, under the addition watch of battle ready Marines, Kyle was allowed into the west wing and was brought to the Roosevelt Room where the president, Anders, Cutter and the Master Chief in full armor. What really surprised him was the presence of his parents, his father in his green service uniform.

"What's going on?" Kyle asked.

"I'm glad you're here" Halsey said as she walked in behind Kyle, laptop in hand as she strode over to the head of the table situated in the Roosevelt room.

"Doctor, I hope whatever it is you wanna tell us, it's important enough to make me miss my meeting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff" Cutter said.

"Believe me, Captain it is" Halsey said as she opened her laptop and was joined by Anders and Kalmiya. "Six years ago I started studying old Forerunner ruins that gave me insight into their culture. From my findings I've been able to conclude that there were Forerunners that survived the Halo detonation, but I'm assuming that their numbers were so low that they didn't stand a chance in rebuilding their species. So they sought out a genetically compatible species to mate with, the ancient humans of my Earth which were, according to Forerunner logs I retrieved, a less advanced version of their own species, and I mean genetically. How this came to be was a complete mystery, even to the Forerunners."

"So humanity is an offshoot of the Forerunners somehow?" The Master Chief asked.

"The humanity of our universe, John," Halsey corrected. "We know the Forerunners indexed many species from across the galaxy and brought them to The Ark for protection against the Halos. I've been able to learn this was the act of a small number of forerunners led by someone who I've only been able to name as the 'librarian', I'm sure this was simply a title. She was the first Forerunner to find Earth and humanity, and obviously noticed the relation between her species and ours. The Forerunner survivors found her records and realized humanity was their only chance to reclaim their empire."

"Reclaimers" the Master Chief said.

"Eventually, the Forerunner genes became more diluted with each passing generation, however it did grow stronger in several generations. These same genes were the basis for the selection protocols for the Spartan program."

"So the Master Chief and the Spartans are descendants of the original children produced by the Forerunners and the tribal humans" Anders said.

"Wait a minute, how do I have these genes?" Kyle asked. "I was born here."

"That's why you're here, that's why I requested this meeting" Halsey said. "When Kyle initially came to my universe thirty-four years ago, I ran a genetic scan to determine if he was listed in the UNSC DNA registry, this would help me confirm or deny his story. He didn't match, but what he did match for was the Spartan project. Kyle, what you didn't know was that the genes that made you compatible, made up fifty percent of your genetic structure. While any of the other Spartans have it make up only a fraction of their DNA."

To put it simple, Kyle is half-Forerunner" Anders said.

"And that means there's a living, breathing Forerunner in this very room" Halsey said.

All eyes in the room, save for two, went to Kyle's parents. It didn't take genius to figure out who the Forerunner was. The one with no living relatives and a self proclaimed orphan, the one without a solid back story.

"Well, I must admit your skills are good, doctor" Marlyn Stevens said.

"Marlyn, don't" Alan said.

"Alan, there's no point in hiding anymore" Marlyn said. "Doctor Halsey is correct, I am the last of the Forerunners."

"Mom..." Kyle muttered.

**

* * *

**

September 7, 2011

**location: Earth, North America, Washington, DC- The White House**

"Wait, are you telling me you're an alien!?" Rebbecca asked her grandmother.

"Well yes" Marlyn replied.

"And my father was half alien!?" Rebbecca asked.

"Yes, but there's a big difference you're not..."

"Oh god I'm part alien!" Rebbecca said before her entire world turned black and she slumped over on the couch, Rebbecca had fainted.

**

* * *

**

**Message from the general:** well what do you think of my latest revelation? Remember, review.


	18. Chapter 17: fallout

**Message from the general: **glad everyone had their jaws dropped, thanks for the reviews. Sorry this took so long, but I recently received disturbing news from comic-con. I have learned that Microsoft is partnering with several Japanese anime companies to produce several short movies set in the Halo universe, featuring Spartans and such. I've seen clips of this and I'm appalled, there are simply some things you can't make into anime and Halo is one of them. Microsoft has decided to exclude Bungie from this, and they're giving the Japanese companies a significant Carte Blanche. If this allowed, we're gonna see the UNSC driving around in the SDF-1, stomping out Covenant in Gundam suits and Spartans with ridiculously long hair and emotional problems, I guarantee you this. So I am decreeing that anything from this anime series is NON-CANNON. I hope you'll join with me and condemn this marketing action by Microsoft.

**

* * *

**

Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine

**chapter 17: fallout**

**September 7, 2011**

**location: Earth, North America, Washington DC- The White House**

It was early evening by the time Rebbecca came to, she opened her eyes only to have a bright light shined in them. She immediately reacted and grabbed hold of the wrist holding the small penlight to her eyes.

"Whoa, take it easy" the man said, "I'm a doctor, I'm just checking you over."

Rebbecca sat up and realized she wasn't in the oval office, but instead was on a bed in a room that looked like it was from the 1800s. The Doctor standing in front of her was dressed in a Navy uniform and was removing something from his bag.

"Relax, I'm just checking your blood pressure" he said.

Rebbecca nodded and allowed him to wrap a sleeve around her arm which his then inflated and read the readout on a machine the sleeve was connected to. As soon as he was done, Johnson walked into the room.

"How's she doing, doc?" He asked.

"Fine, she probably fainted due to the enormous amount of stress she was under. Hell, from what I was briefed on, learning something like that would make anyone faint," the doctor said before he left.

"How are you holding up?" Johnson asked.

"That wasn't a bad dream, what happened earlier," Rebbecca said to herself. "I'm some kind of alien."

"The only thing you are is one hundred percent pure UNSC Marine," Johnson said, "hell, I'd kill to be one quarter of an extinct super race."

"I don't have any freaky organs, right?" Rebbecca asked.

"You think the Corps would have accepted you if you had a squiggly spooch?" Johnson said, "from what your grandma told me, Forerunners' got the same organs we do, its the mind that's different, but I probably let her explain that."

"Oh I need to apologize for flipping out," Rebbecca said "as she stood up, and where am I anyway, this room looks like a museum piece."

"Security guys said this was 'Lincoln's bedroom' or something like that," Johnson said, "everyone else is outside, come on."

Johnson led her through a small foyer and into a large hallway. From there they passed through a yellow, oval shaped room before arriving on a balcony along the south portico of the White House. Her grandparents were sitting at a small table with the president, chatting like they were old friends.

"Ah, I see my personal physician has given you a clean bill of health" the president said.

"Yes sir, I'm feeling better" Rebbecca replied.

"Rebbecca, I'm sorry about startling you like that earlier," Marlyn said. "I understand what you've gone through in the past day, I didn't mean to add your heritage to your list of issues."

"I'd appreciate an explanation of my _heritage"_ Rebbecca said.

"I think the best way is to continue the story" the president said.

**

* * *

**

April 27, 2009

**location: Earth, North America, Washington DC- The White House**

"Is this some kind of a joke!?" Kyle asked Halsey. Everything she had just explained made complete sense to Kyle, but at the same time left him skeptical. His mother, a Forerunner?

"Bring it in" Anders said to the Marines guarding the door to the Roosevelt room. The door opened and a pair of Marines escorted the monitor inside along with Maria and Cassandra, who were helping with White House security as a sign of good faith to the president. The monitor surveyed the room quickly, and his eye settled on Kyle's mother.

"Lady Marlyn!" The monitor said, "it is wonderful to see you."

"Monitor, this person is a Forerunner, correct?" Halsey asked it.

"Wait, how did you know her name?" Kyle also asked.

"I wasn't aware you had a monitor on your ship," Marlyn said. "Its good to see a familiar construct, autonomous flash."

"Ok, someone better start explaining!" Kyle said.

"Like I said earlier, and what autonomous flash just confirmed, I am quite possibly the last of my people" Marlyn said.

"How the hell is this even possible?" Kyle asked no one in particular.

"Look, I can explain, but its a long story," Marlyn said.

"We have plenty of time to hear it" Halsey said, "tell us everything."

"I came here twenty two years ago to escape the war with the Flood, I used a technology I helped develop, the same crystals you used" Marlyn said.

"So you're a Forerunner scientist?" Anders asked.

"I was," Marlyn replied, "I was merely a member of a team of scientists assigned to a secret lab underneath a shipyard facility. We were tasked with creating contingency plans for the survival of our race. The military developed a weapons array that would eliminate the Flood's hosts, sentient beings. We installed them on seven orbital instillations you know as Halo. We, however, found a way to encase several of our shield planetoids to survive the blasts using advanced slipspace fields. Even though we had the viable fall back plan, we continued our work in case another plan was needed. I was manipulating a unshielded slipspace core in an attempt to access more complex layers of slipspace, allowing our ships to make faster journeys. While I managed to achieve this, I inadvertently opened a tunnel into a parallel universe. The decision was made by my military leaders to replicate this technology, so we sent a prototype to our military's main base planet for them to evaluate further while we replicated as many units as possible. Our plan was to scout a parallel universe and then program all the units to follow the previous one used, however our plans failed when the Flood launched a massive surprise attack on our forces. There wasn't enough time to get civilians to the shield instillations so someone in the military fired the array. Everyone in the shipyard evacuated using the ships there, I used one of the crystals and locked the facility down."

"So you not only created the shield worlds, but the crystals as well?" Halsey asked. "Fascinating."

"How exactly did you get into this country?" The president asked.

"I initially arrived in Panama in 1988" Marlyn said, "that's when Alan found me."

She looked over at her husband who held her hand.

"Wait, you knew who... what she is?" Kyle asked his father.

"Yes, she told me after we met," Alan said, "showed me proof. I helped her get a visa to enter the US after my deployment in Panama was over. Somewhere along the line we fell in love."

"I'm sorry you had to find out this way, Kyle" Marlyn said.

"You must have known what I was?" Kyle asked the monitor.

"You registered as a Forerunner," the monitor said, "and carried the necessary authorization, I am not programed to make inquiries."

"Kyle, I know how you're feeling right now" Marlyn said.

Kyle didn't reply, instead he left the room, shaking his head slightly.

"I'll talk to him" Alan said, "you'll be ok?"

"When have I ever needed protecting?" Marlyn said, "go, talk to him."

Alan nodded and left the room, leaving Marlyn to face the president and three Spartans.

"What do you intend to do with me?" Marlyn asked, "imprison me, study me in a lab?"

"I have no intention of pressing any kind of charges against you, Mrs Stevens" the president said, "you have US citizenship, which means Captain Cutter can't do anything to you either, assuming you were, Captain?"

"I have no desire to take any kind of action against her, however her technical knowledge may prove useful, assuming you're willing to help?" Cutter asked.

"Well now that I'm out in the open, I'll help in any way I can," Marlyn said. "Earth is my home too, I'm not letting this Covenant destroy it in the name of my people."

"In that case, perhaps we should start by an exchange of information" Halsey said.

"Doctor, I can tell your only interest is the knowledge of Forerunner science I have" Marlyn said. "And at any rate, I have to deal with my son right now, any kind of exchange will have to wait."

Marlyn followed Alan out, determined to set things right with Kyle.

**

* * *

**

April 27, 2009

**location: Earth, North America, Alexandria, VA- Stevens residence**

Alan had managed to convince his son to at least meet with them at their house to try and calm him down. Kyle had agreed, but went as far as to take separate transport back to the house. Once they arrived, they went inside, but before Kyle could reach the living room, his father grabbed his arm and held him back in the foyer.

"About what I said earlier," Alan started, "I don't agree with the life choices you made, but I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. Obviously you care about this Kelly a great deal, and for good reason. If it means anything, I'll help in any way I can to get her back."

"Thanks dad" Kyle said.

"Get going, you gotta talk to your mother" Alan said.

"You're not coming?" Kyle asked.

"This is something you and your mother have to discuss" Alan said, "go on."

Kyle nodded and entered the living room. The secret service gave them some privacy as Marlyn sat waiting in an armchair. Kyle sat on the couch directly across from the chair.

"I imagine you have questions" Marlyn said.

"Obviously" Kyle said. "How could you not tell me, even after I told you about the crystal?"

"To be honest, when you showed me that crystal I was paralyzed, I thought I had left that part of my life behind. It came back and took you from me," Marlyn said. Kyle could tell she was trying to hold back some tears. "I thought I was loosing my mind when you started playing those Halo videogames, how erringly similar it was to my world."

"What about me, I mean I'm some kind of hybrid now, anything I should know?" Kyle asked.

"Halsey was right in that humanity is related to us in a relatively close way. Organs, basic appearances, all the same. I can't tell you how this came about, I only had access to the preliminary findings."

"How are you... we... different?"

"Well one of the obvious differences is our eyes." Marlyn said, "I'm sure you know that neither you, David or Josh ever inherited your father's eye color. I'm sure your daughter also has your eyes. All Forerunners have blue eyes, we don't have different eye colors. In addition, we age more slowly than humans, though this isn't an issue for children who age at a normal human rate until their mid twenties."

"That and my augmentations explain why I look thirty instead of fifty-one, Kyle remarked. "Halsey said we were less advanced than Forerunners, how so?"

"That's a bit of a tale," Marlyn said. "Thousands of years ago, for me, our species was confined to a single world, and while we advanced technologically, our world was divided and monarchs ruled the separate territories. We didn't rebel against them because those monarchs were descended of the very first Forerunners, so the story goes. Instead of kings and queens, we called them The Mystics because they possessed unusual abilities."

"Like?"

"Like this," Marlyn said as she outstretched her hand and waved it over the small coffee table positioned between them. On it was a basket of fake fruit and just as her hand went over it, one of the fruits began to levitate. With another wave of her hand, the fruit fell back down.

Kyle was none the less shocked by his mother's display of power.

"So you're a descendant of these mystics?" Kyle asked.

"Thats correct, and unfortunately small tricks like that are all I'm capable of, it takes practice to hone those skills. It wasn't a priority in my old life."

"So you just ignored the fact you had telekinetic powers when you were young?" Kyle asked.

"Pretty much, I wanted to pursue a career in science, unfortunately mystics are normally required for military service. My father was able to get me into the science academy through his connections, your grandfather was a very powerful man in the empire."

"So the mystics went from monarchs to soldiers, just like that?"

"No, the mystics were in power for quite some time, until about 100 years after we achieved spaceflight. We settled the other inhabited world in our home system as well as establishing outposts and colonies on every other planet we could. Each was claimed by one of the different mystic clans, we had fought in wars before, but those were confined to our home planet, now a civil war spanning our entire home system seemed likely. Until the precursors arrived."

"The precursors?" Kyle asked, the name sounded familiar but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"They were a highly advanced race who entered our system just as hostilities broke out. They negotiated a truce, helped abolish the monarchies and unify our people under a single ruling body. They also gave us advanced technology and how to access slipspace. Their final act before departing was to bestow our race's new name, Forerunner. They told us that's what other races would know us as, in time. With the mystics no longer in power, many of them accepted their fates and took up service in the military, their abilities making them some of the most decisive soldiers our Army had to offer. When the Flood came almost 500 years later, they were our front line defense. The Flood thankfully couldn't use their powers if they became hosts. However the loss of a single mystic was a great blow to our war effort, they were the only reason we were able to match the Flood in ground engagements, but as you know that alone wasn't enough to stop them."

"How did you convince dad to help you, I'm sure he didn't believe any of this stuff" Kyle said.

"In addition to being telekinetic, I'm also telepathic, but like my telekinetic abilities, I have barely any practice, I almost rendered your father brain dead from showing him who I was."

"I thought you said they were only telekinetic?" Kyle said.

"There are several different recorded mystic abilities, some mystics and their descents, like me, can possess more than one ability. Although my two are my only known abilities, there are other like the ability to heal themselves, project kinetic barriers, some records show they could even bring people back from the dead. Not a lot of research was conducted into these abilities for fear that if we could replicate them, then we'd loose a part of our original culture, a culture that I'm the last of."

"Mom, do I have any of these abilities?" Kyle asked.

"As far as I know, no you don't. Its possible that with Forerunner and human genes mixing some Forerunner traits weren't inherited, among other things."

"Other things?"

"When I became pregnant with David, I used what equipment I had available to try and analyze the effects of a Forerunner and a human having a kid. In addition to the blue eyes, you also inherited the Forerunner's aging process. Unfortunately this mixture of genes has left you incapable of having male children, and it seems any mystic abilities."

"Not that I need them," Kyle said, "I've got plenty of super human abilities already."

"It may also be possible that you did inherit them, but they merely need to be unlocked" Marlyn said.

* * *

I know its not much of a cliffhanger, but I've been swamped with writer's block as of late. Hey, any of my readers go to last night's awesome AC/DC concert at Gillette along with myself?


	19. Chapter 18: memories

**Message from the general: **well I can see from the reviews (lack there of) that not a lot of people liked the last chapter. I hope this one makes up for it, please review!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**chapter 18: memories**

**April 27, 2009**

**location: Earth, North America, Arlington, VA- The Pentagon**

The Pentagon, a building shaped like a literal pentagon made of reinforced concrete and steel in five concentric rings, held the command centers for the entire United States Armed Forces. This legendary building, which had been attacked sixty years to the day it had been constructed, was now being prepped to coordinate the defense of the entire planet.

Inside the meeting chambers of the joint chiefs, General Denning, Captain Cutter and the Master Chief presented their case to the leaders of the US military. At first they were skeptical, especially when the Master Chief showed up. However he quickly demonstrated he was a real Spartan by breaking one of the guards MP5s clean in half. After that, the assorted Generals and Admirals listed to the briefing.

"General, do you personally believe this story?" Admiral Mullen, the chairman, asked.

"Sir, I personally witnessed one of their dropships, and you read the secretary's disposition and were briefed on the attack on the White House. These people saved the president's life, they have every right to be heard and believed."

"From what I've read, there isn't anything we can do to combat alien warships that can strategically attack us safely from orbit, not even our Pegasus A-SAT missiles could touch them," General Schwartz, the air force chief of staff said.

"General Denning, in your capacity as Commander of strategic command, do we have any possibility of combating these ships?" Admiral Mullen asked.

"No sir, I've been informed that our minuteman IIIs would be intercepted before they reached their targets, and the warheads wouldn't make a dent against their energy shields," Denning said.

"Which means any battle would have to be fought on the ground" the Master Chief said.

"And how do you propose we get these ships to land so we can attack them?" Admiral Mullen asked.

"We don't, they'll send dropships which we can capture and place nukes aboard, all we need to do is to fly them inside their ships and detonate them," the Chief said.

"Even if what you propose is possible, we'll be facing an invasion" Admiral Mullen said, "you don't have enough troops and equipment to possibly stop them all, ours is apparently 500 years less advanced then yours or the Covenant's."

"We still use some of the same ammunition, and combined, your worldwide armies outnumber the estimated Covenant forces by five to one," the Master Chief said.

"The more people and governments we inform, the greater the risk of this becoming public" Admiral Mullen said.

"Its going to become public the second the Covenant begin landing troops and killing people in major cities!" Cutter said.

"They have a point, sir" Denning said, "we can at least bring in our NATO allies and inform the security council members, that alone can give us more than enough support for North America and Europe."

"What about the rest of the world?" The Master Chief asked.

"You need to understand that we're not on friendly terms with every country in the world, and some countries barely even have air forces. We can only protect so much land from Covenant attack," Denning said.

"On Earth, during the Covenant invasion, we fought tooth and nail for every piece of land the Covenant set foot on, even going as far as to nuking it," the Master Chief said, "we weren't swayed by divisions, it was our planet."

"Master Chief, despite what you may think, this planet is not unified and merely because the same race inhabits it does not make us united" Admiral Mullen said, "we have a chance to preserve the majority of human life on this planet. We don't have the time or the manpower to spread our forces to the rest of the world, that is assuming NATO and the security council will even join us. Who's to say this Covenant will even attempt a ground assault? From what I read on the subject, they'll 'glass' our planet and simply be done with us."

"They won't, if they believe there are Forerunner relics on this planet" the Chief said.

"Master Chief, there are none of these relics on this planet, the Forerunners are merely videogame characters" Admiral Mullen said.

"The Covenant will search the most likely places for relics, the same places they looked last time the" Master Chief said. "They won't risk glassing the planet for fear of damaging them, so they'll land ground troops."

"Even then, we're still going to be attacked here" Admiral Mullen said, "if I hadn't seen the letter the president signed himself, I wouldn't have believed any of this." He stood along with the other members of the joint chiefs. "General, we've seen the evidence you've presented as representing a genuine threat to the United States. We'll begin preliminary planning and recall of essential personal from overseas, Denning you will coordinate with Captain Cutter here on our air defenses."

"Yes, Admiral" Denning said.

"This meeting is adjourned" Mullen said as he and the other members of the joint chiefs filed out of the room.

"They're still skeptical" Denning said after they left.

"Anyone would be after the things we told them" Cutter said, "so what's our next step?"

"We need to draw up a plan for enacting the Master Chief's strategy" Denning said.

"That strategy was more or less a bluff to get them to cooperate" the Master Chief said. "The Covenant have a knack for knowing when their ships aren't under their control, I doubt we could even get close enough to one if we had a dropship."

"It doesn't mean the plan isn't entirely impossible" Cutter said, "the difficult part would be getting the dropships to land in a place of our choosing, instead of major cities" Cutter said.

"I have an idea on that the Chief said, something an old friend used once."

Denning was about to ask the Chief for details when an mp came in saying he had a message for the General. Denning went to one of the phones near the door and picked up the receiver, within a minute the conversation became heated and he hung up the phone.

"What was that all about?" Cutter asked.

"The president, he's refused to have the commandos who attacked the White House transported to Guantanamo bay for interrogation, prefers the FBI handle it. They've had over day and they haven't been able to get anything from them."

"What's so special about this Guantanamo bay?" The Master Chief asked.

"Its a navy base in Cuba, only good thing is that its outside US jurisdiction when it comes to the treatment of prisoners. Captured terrorists are interrogated using less than legal means, which have produced results. He's made it a point of his administration to close it down, and even after these people tried to kill them he won't allow us to send them there."

"These people may have information on where they took my friend," the Master Chief said. "Put me in a room, I can get your answers."

"That's a bold offer, but there's no way we could get you into FBI headquarters without setting off a few alarms back at the White House" Denning said, "we're just going to have to rely on the FBI and hope they can get one of them to cooperate."

**April 27, 2009**

**location: Earth, north America, Alexandria, VA- Stevens residence **

"What do you mean _unlock_?" Kyle asked.

"Some mystic descendants have their powers emerge when they're young children, or they stay suppressed. Normally a telekinetic trainer would have to be summoned to merge minds with the Forerunner in question, to guide his or her powers to the surface. That was the case with me," Marlyn said.

"So there is a chance I have these powers?" Kyle asked.

"Yes, but in order to do that you'd have to merge your mind with another Forerunner, one who would be trained to do this.

"Could you do it?" Kyle asked her.

"Kyle, I told you what I almost did to your father the last time I even tried something remotely similar. I don't have enough experience" Marlyn said.

"My brain's a lot different from a regular human" Kyle said, "my augmentations should protect me."

"I won't do it" Marlyn said.

"I deserve to know if I have any of these abilities!" Kyle said.

"And you're my son!" Marlyn said, "every day after you left, me and your father always wondered if you had been killed. You're finally back, I don't want to be the one to accidentally kill you."

"You won't, that thought alone will stop you from screwing up" Kyle said as he got up and sat with her on the couch. "I have to know."

"I can't talk you out of this I guess," Marlyn said. "The way they did it for me was to associate the individual powers with certain memories, strong ones. When I enter your mind I'm going to cause you to relive those memories, hopefully one of them will trigger your dormant abilities. Try to relax."

She narrowed her eyes, took a deep breath, and focused her gaze on Kyle. At first, Kyle felt nothing, followed by a squishing feeling on his head. His vision began to tunnel and he slowly lost all feeling in his limbs. Kyle felt as if his mind had been set adrift in an ocean, but just as quickly as he'd been disoriented, Kyle felt himself back in his body. However, he wasn't in the living room anymore, nor was he even on his Earth.

Kyle found himself in a UNSC hospital room, unable to control his own body. Eventually, he looked out a nearby window and was able to see the Sydney skyline clearly. As soon as he registered where and possibly when he was, a soft voice from behind him called his name. Kyle spun around and saw the other end of the room had a hospital bed, with Kelly in it. Still not in control of his own body, Kyle walked over and leaned over to look at the sleeping baby she cradled in her arms.

"I can't believe she's here" Kelly whispered to him, "she looks so like you."

As soon as the happy memory had come, it dissolved and another one took its place. This time they were in Catlin's bedroom, with a half naked Catlin right in front of him. Kyle quickly figured out this was the time he'd slept with her.

_Oh no, mom's probably seeing this_ Kyle thought, _come on, switch memories._

Just as Catlin was about to remove her bra, the memory faded again and was replaced with the interior of a cruiser. He was surrounded by the other members of Blue Team, each in their armor. A quick glance of a nearby monitor told him the year was 2548. one of the doors opened to the room he was in and Fred came inside, the other Spartans, including Kyle, drew the Spartan smile on their faceplates.

"So how was Earth?" Linda immediately asked.

_Oh yeah, Fred's deployment_ Kyle thought to himself, remembering the time Fred was temporarily assigned to Earth to assist ONI on a classified mission, he was one of the few Spartans who'd actually been to Earth before the Covenant invasion.

"It was... strange" Fred muttered, "all the civilians, its like they don't care."

"What do you mean?" Kyle asked.

"You've been to some of the fringe colonies, you've seen how the civilians there act, its utter chaos" Fred said. "On Earth, its almost like the civilians, even some military, don't even now how badly the war is going."

Kyle remembered this conversation, and years later learned that ONI section one had released false statements to the public in the Sol system about the war effort, they kept up the charade right up until the Covenant attack on New Mombasa.

"I say let them," John said.

"What makes you think that?" Kelly asked.

"If you knew you were going to die very soon, would you rather know it or pretend you didn't hear about it and continue your life?" The Master Chief said, "if they knew the truth it would tear the civilians apart, we wouldn't have enough troops to quell them and fight the Covenant."

"Well hopefully we won't get that far" Linda said, "we'll push the Covenant back no problem."

"Not far enough" Kyle muttered.

"Huh?" Linda asked.

"Oh nothing" Kyle replied.

The memory was gone and replaced by yet another one, one that was perhaps one of his most happiest. It was the machine shop on the Gettysburg, when he and Kelly admitted their feelings for each other. His and Kelly's faces came slowly together and their for the fabled kiss, but when it occurred, something happened. Kyle's mind felt like it was on fire and spinning down a drain. Finally the strange feelings stopped and he found himself standing in the room on the Forerunner planet where he'd discovered Kalmiya and the other crystals. However, the room was significantly more brighter and had several more consoles placed around the circular room. Occupying the room however were people dressed in strange clothes, while several wore what Kyle recognized to be lab coats, others wore strange beige uniforms. Kyle spun around and came face to face with a woman sitting at a console, the black hair, the blue eyes, it was his mother, at a younger age however, possibly 20 or 21.

_Which means these are her memories_ Kyle thought to himself.

Kyle soon realized that no one in the room could actually see him and while he could rest on solid objects, he couldn't manipulate them, so it was as if he wasn't even there.

"Marlyn!" A deep voice came from the door. Kyle looked over and saw another man enter, he was tall, had brown hair and a skinny build. His uniform was beige like all the others.

"Arynn, to what do I owe this visit?" Marlyn said in an annoyed tone.

"I was just coming to see if you had received Laria's report she sent to the science council?"

"You mean the species she found in sector 0238, the proto-forerunners of the planet Eden?" Marlyn said, I have seen the report, and hopefully once the Flood have been dealt with we can conduct a thorough investigation of their origins.

"Has Commander Jasic been telling you the Flood will be dealt with?"

"Jasic has nothing to with this!"

"You shouldn't be seeing him" Arynn said.

"Since when do you control who I'm involved with?"

"His kind shouldn't be allowed to fraternize with ours, imagine if you two were to have children, the shame they would have to endure..."

"Listen to me carefully, you are treading in dangerous places!" Marlyn said as she sprung up from her chair and pointed a finger at his chest. "You traditionalists have very flawed views and it was people like you who almost started the civil war!"

"If mystics are ever going to regain power, we need to ensure our gene pool does not become contaminated with normal Forerunner genes."

"I cannot believe your arrogance!" Marlyn said, "leave now."

Arynn reached out and grabbed her upper arm, pulling Marlyn closer to him.

"He couldn't give you half of what I could he said in a low voice, imagine how powerful our children could be..."

"Let go!" Marlyn said in a threating voice, "remember who my father is, he'll have central security strip you of your titles."

"I was merely trying to make you understand that mystics belong with mystics" Arynn said as he let go, "clearly the normals have corrupted you and your father's lineage."

Her memory faded again and was replaced by the same room, although the mood had changed. Alarms blared overhead as the last personnel in the room rushed to collect equipment and leave. Kyle found his mother hunched over a holographic terminal talking to someone. Kyle walked dover and saw a man was staring at her from the screen, the background behind him was reminiscent of a starship bridge.

"Jasic, what's going on?" Marlyn said.

"_Its bad, the Flood are attacking the line right now, Captain Andrias is taking us in. High command is implementing the Halos to combat them, they've ordered an evacuation to the shield worlds."_

"I know, word came down an hour ago, we always knew this was going to happen."

"_Are you leaving now?"_

"As soon as I'm done talking to you."

"_Please listen to me Marlyn, don't go with the ships."_

"And stay here and get atomized by the shockwaves? I'm going and I'm going to see you there, when this is all over it'll be just you and me."

"Marlyn listen!" Jasic pleaded, "this is a no win fight, one of our AIs turned on us, his ships have been assimilated and they're coming for us, 4.8 million strong. All warships are on a suicide mission, and evacuation to the shield worlds is impossible, if they break through then they'll see where the civilians are going and pursue, rendering our plan useless. Command says we can hold out for five maybe six hours, there isn't enough time to effect a major evacuation. A few are heading for The Ark to complete the plan, lead by Captain Didact."

Then why shouldn't I try and make it to one of the shield worlds?"

"Because they've already been activated, someone panicked and the timer has been set, you'd never make it in time. Use one of your crystals to escape."

"Go to a parallel universe, without you? Never Marlyn declared. Steal a shuttle if you have to.

"I can't abandon my post, it goes against the oath I took as an officer."

"You would abandon me over some silly oath?" Marlyn said, becoming visibly upset.

"By fighting to keep them at bay I'm giving you precious time to escape. Please listen to me and do this, I wouldn't suggest it if I didn't believe there weren't any other options."

"Jasic..."

"Please promise me that if you make it to the other side, that you won't dwell on me, find someone to make you happy."

"I will" Marlyn said.

"I love you, Marlyn" Jasic said before the screen went blank. Marlyn was alone as she slowly cried, and didn't notice the monitor as it floated into the room.

"Lady Marlyn, the last transports are leaving, you must board them before it is too late the monitor cautioned."

"I'm not going" Marlyn muttered.

"Forgive me, I did not hear you last statement."

"I said I'm not going" Marlyn replied again as she wiped the tears from her eyes and removed her lab coat. Going over to a nearby locker, she removed a belt containing a small boxy device and what looked like a phaser from Star Trek III attached to it. She also removed a large black backpack and a pair of boots that matched her uniform, swapping the shoes on her feet for the boots, Marlyn donned the backpack and affixed the belt to her waist.

"For what purpose do you need survival gear?" The monitor asked.

"I'm using one of the crystals, I'm leaving for a parallel universe" Marlyn said.

"And what should I tell the Captain of the transport ship waiting for you?"

"Tell them to lift off."

"Done. Now where do you intend to go in this parallel universe?" The monitor asked as he grabbed a crystal in his grav beam and brought it over to a device that had a focusing array on it. Marlyn moved over to a adjacent workstation and brought up a starchart.

"Eden, the people there look like us, I have a better chance at blending in."

"What time frame shall I set?"

"Set for 100,000 years after this date, I can't take the chance of running into a parallel Forerunner society that are still at war with the Flood."

The monitor complied and activated the device, which harnessed the abilities of the crystal and created a pearly white rip in the middle of the room, it eventually resolved into a rip that lead to an area covered in jungle plants.

"This is the best I can do" the monitor said, "I cannot guarantee that you will not end up on an uncharted island on this world Eden."

"Its fine" Marlyn said as she set about encrypting the computer records. "Once I'm gone I want you to destroy the equipment and store the crystals, then lock this facility down, reclaimer authorization only. If the Flood so much as enter orbit, use the self destruct and leave nothing intact."

"You need not worry, I shall not let the parasite pursue you."

"Autonomous flash, thank you, for everything" Marlyn said.

"You are welcome, lady. I wish you well on the other side" the monitor said before Marlyn stepped through the rip and found herself in the middle of a jungle. She looked back to see the monitor floating on the other side, right before the tear closed and stranded her. She removed the other device on her belt and opened it, a holographic display coming on and giving her a menu of options. She selected one of them and the device did a scan of the area, creating a topographic map and also finding two groups of lifeforms. One was continuing on a straight course while the other appeared to be heading towards the first group.

Marlyn decided to investigate since it would give her an idea of what the natives were like, and how far advanced they were. After hiking through the think jungles for over two hours, she came upon a valley with a small river running through the middle. Her scanner told her that the first group were following the river on her side of the bank while the other group was approaching from the other side of the bank. She removed a pair of binoculars from her pack and spied on the first group that was approaching her concealed position. Kyle, still being an observer to this memory, ran down to the approaching group and discovered they were American soldiers, Marines specifically.

"LT, I'm dying in this heat," one of the Marines complained.

"Do you want a Panamanian bullet to kill you instead?" A familiar voice at the head of the group replied. Kyle walked forward just a bit and saw the identity of their leader, his father, but much younger. He had his squad halt their position and he ordered them to fan out. No sooner had he ordered this then a hair of gunfire came from the other side of the river bank. The other lifesigns were in fact a patrol of rebel Panamanians that had not complied with the surrender of panama to the United States, hence why Marines were dispatched to find them.

The Marines returned fire, one even lobbing a grenade that landed shy of the enemy troops. With the sound of a sniper's bullet heard, the Marines were now in serious jeopardy.

"Marines, hold position and radio HQ for reinforcements, we've found our rebels" the young Alan Stevens said.

"Sir, what the hell are you doing!?" One of the privates cried when Alan dove into the line of fire, drawing them away. Kyle followed as fast as he could and watched his father run into the trees, three soldiers hot on his tail. After he emerged into a small clearing, his father didn't noticed the tree branch blocking his way and promptly tripped over it, smashing his knee into a rock. He let out a yell as the impact probably caused some form of damage. Before the Panamanians were on him, three red projectiles of energy came out of the forest and slammed into the soldiers, causing them to topple dead out of the tree line. At the same time, the branch Marlyn had been on on snapped and she fell straight to the ground, landing in front of his father.

"Who the hell are you!?" Alan asked as he managed to snap up his rifle and point it at Marlyn who was just sitting up.

"Huh?" Marlyn replied.

"Who are you, what's that thing in you hand?" Alan said.

Marlyn, still holding the phaser thing she used to kill the rebels pursuing Alan, had a curious look on her face.

"Listen. I. Cannot. Understand. Your. Language," she said slowly.

This puzzled Kyle, she had been speaking perfect English before and continued to do so, why would his father be unable to understand her? Then it hit him, his brain was translating everything Marlyn said into English for him.

"Great" Marlyn said as she removed her scanner and activated it. "Where's a translation program when you need it."

She scanned Alan and noticed the injury to his knee.

"Listen, I can fix your knee" she said as she pointed to her own, "but you need to put your gun down so I can help you."

"What was that you were speaking, Latin?" Alan asked.

"I don't have time for this" Marlyn said, "I know you can't understand me, but I'm sorry about this."

Kyle saw she initiated a telepathic link with his father, and after only a minute the link was broken as Alan passed out. Marlyn quickly rushed to his side and removed her pack, taking the medical kit from it. She used her scanner and discovered that the untrained link she had performed was causing him to slip into a coma.

"No, you can't do this, not after I just met you," Marlyn said to herself as she injected him with a drug that would counteract the coma and she began tending to his broken knee. Using equipment strange to him, Kyle watched her heal his father. The memory shifted ahead, it was the middle of the night and Marlyn had lit a small fire. Alan finally came around and noticed his gun was missing.

"Looking for this" Marlyn said as she held up the rifle.

"How come I can understand you now?" Alan asked.

"What I did to you earlier, we merged minds temporarily, I was able to get an understand of your language."

"The things I saw, I thought it was a dream" Alan muttered.

"I showed you parts of my life, I figured it would help you understand who I was rather then get you to believe an explanation" Marlyn said.

"You mean that you are some kind of alien from the past, and you came here to escape a war. I don't know, its all a mess."

"Well you're partly right" Marlyn said. "But I'm not escaping a war, I'm escaping the genocide and extinction of my species, and if I'm right, I'm the only one left."

"I'm sorry" Alan said, "maybe you should start from the beginning."

"Well for starters, my name's Marlyn, I'm afraid the link didn't give me yours."

"Second Lieutenant Alan Stevens, United States Marine Corps."

Marlyn chuckled slightly.

"What's so funny?" Alan asked.

"Nothing, you just remind me of someone I knew once," Marlyn said, "anyway, the beginning..."

With that, the memory faded completely, only this time Kyle found himself back on the couch of his living room. He barely had time to register the shocked look on his mother's face when he slipped into unconsciousness.

--

Coming to, Kyle sat up immediately and noticed he was in his old room on his bed, which surprisingly still fit him.

"You've been out for twelve hours" Marlyn said as she stood by the door, "the merging was a little too much for you to handle I'm afraid."

Tell that to my killer migraine Kyle muttered. During the link, did you show me some of your memories?

"I know you saw them, but I wasn't the one who showed you, you accessed my mind and found the memories I associate with my abilities" Marlyn explained.

"One of the guys, Arynn was his name, who the hell was he and why was he being such an ass?"

"Arynn was one of the scientists who worked with me on the project, and like me he was descended form the mystics. However he was a traditionalist, believed that mystics should only marry mystics, and that they should be back in power. I could tell he was attracted to me, but I told him time and again that I wasn't interested."

"Because of Jasic?" Kyle said.

"Saw that too I see" Marlyn said, "Jasic was a Commander aboard one of our cruisers, I didn't see him often but we were involved. Your father reminds me of him, one of the reasons I fell in love with him."

"I'm sorry you lost him, mom" Kyle said.

"It was a long time ago, besides I have your father and three wonderful children" Marlyn said.

"So about these abilities, I have them now?"

"As far as I know you only have access to telepathic abilities, I'm not sure about telekinesis" Marlyn said before their conversation was interrupted by Alan.

"Kyle, you have some visitors downstairs" he said.

Kyle got off the bed and proceeded downstairs with his mother in tow. Waiting in the living room was Catlin and someone who he hadn't seen since the last Christmas before he was transported to the Halo universe. He was tall, and his AC/DC t-shirt he wore over a blue long sleeved one and his green cargo pants hid his skinny frame. Kyle and him could have passed for twins when they were the same age, since they had the same hair color and similar heights, however the thing that set them apart was Kyle's more attractive looks and larger frame.

"Marc! I had no idea you'd come down," Marlyn said.

"Yes, well this psycho girl emails me claiming to be my dead cousin and gets me to come down all they way from Massachusetts, only to find out it's all a crewel hoax, so I brought her over here so uncle Al can deal with her, he said in a clearly agitated tone."

"I'm not dead" Kyle said to him.

"I can see that, whoever the hell you are," Marc replied.

"Look, I really don't like going through the whole song and dance of explaining what happened to me, so I'm just gonna show you" Kyle said.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean..." Marc tarted to say before his entire body became ridged and he began to breathe more heavily, Kyle concentrating on him the entire time.

"Kyle stop!" His mother said and Kyle broke the connection. Marc collapsed, hyperventilating.

"What did you do to him!?" Catlin said as she knelt by Marc's side and helped him onto the couch.

"The fuck was that!?" Marc said after he regained his senses.

"I showed him everything, everything I've been through" Kyle said.

"You are him" Marc muttered, "you're not dead, and you're an alien."

"Hold on, I'm confused here" Catlin said, "since when is Kyle an alien?"

"He's a Forerunner" Marc said, "he showed me, his mom's one too."

"Whoa! Slow down, Kyle's mom is Forerunner, the aliens from the game?"

"It'll take to long to explain, I'll show you" Kyle said.

"Hold on, you're not doing that again, it wasn't necessary for you to do it to your cousin in the first place" Marlyn said, "we have strict laws about the misuse of our abilities."

"And who's going to enforce them?" Kyle said.

"I'm surprised that the transfer of so many memories didn't tire you out at all," Marlyn said, "you've just discovered your power and yet you mastered it somehow."

"Look this doesn't matter right now," Kyle said, "Marc I had you come down because I need your help, I showed you what Crosstime traffic did."

"And you want me to help you because I read the series?" Marc said, "and I'm a bigger sci-fi nut then you and know a hell of a lot more on parallel universes, and you want your girlfriend back, right?"

"That's about it" Kyle said.

"You need a better way of asking for this stuff, you can't just get your psycho friend to pretend to be you, get me on a plane down here, then show up all older and use your psychic powers on me," Marc said, "but since I'm already here and the rest of my family has gone to Florida for vacation, I guess I'll have to help."

"Thanks, this means a lot" Kyle said.

"Kyle, could you come in here for a second," Alan said from the door to his study. Kyle nodded and walked over to his father's study, once inside he shut the door.

"Kyle, I got a call from General Denning, he wants to talk to you" Alan said, pointing to the phone on his desk.

"Thanks" Kyle said as he walked over to the phone and picked up the receiver

"General Denning?"

"_Glad to hear from you, son"_ Denning said, _"the joint chiefs are on board for prepping the country for a Covenant attack, however another problem has come up. The commandos we captured have refused to talk, and the president won't sing off on us using more heavier techniques on them."_

"Sir, what are you suggesting?" Kyle said.

* * *

Sorry, I had to stop it here, this was getting way too long so I'll carry the rest over into the next chapter. I hope this was satisfactory ending.


	20. Chapter 19: necessary evils

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**chapter 19: necessary evil**

**April 28, 2009**

**location: Earth, North America, Washington DC- J. Edgar Hoover building**

It was a bold plan, but a foolish one as well. Using contacts at the CIA, General Denning had managed to arrange a little one on one time with the presumed leader of the attack on the White House. After hearing the Master Chief's threat at the Pentagon, Denning figured Kyle would be the best Spartan for the job, both for his ability to blend in more easier and for his connection to this leader, the only person who would know where Kelly is.

The pass Denning's people had given Kyle would allow him to masquerade as a member of the department of defense, the plan was for Denning's CIA friends to take over the holding room for the amount of time Kyle needed to get the information, however someone at the White House was bound to grow suspicious and it wouldn't be long before the CIA would be ordered to stand down and Kyle would be caught.

Kyle was escorted to the holding room where they brought the leader of the attack, it was already being guarded by several men in black suits.

"You've got probably ten minutes," one of the guards said as they opened the door. The room was small, dimly lit and only had one occupant, the man who only identified himself as Winslow. He was shackled to the chair he was sitting on and was dressed in a bright orange prisoner jumper. He didn't even look at Kyle as he entered the room and sat down in the chair placed in front of him.

"I'm gonna make this real simple," Kyle started, "aside from the fact you tried to kill the president, you took someone. Someone who was important to me, I want to know where she is."

Winslow just sat there with the same empty look on his face.

"Do you know what its like to feel pain?" Kyle asked. He stood up and began pacing around Winslow. "Physical pain, emotional pain? You probably have at some point, but have you ever felt the pain of having someone you care about taken from you, and you couldn't do a thing about it? I guarantee you that I'm gonna make you feel that pain, and I won't have to lay a finger on you. Then you're going to tell me everything you know whether you like it or not."

**

* * *

**

Date unknown

**location: unknown**

Little did Kyle know that Kelly was in a similar situation that Winslow was, for the past two days, she had been held in a similar sized room, bolted to a chair with an IV shut in her arm. She had refused to eat and the guards were forced to feed her intravenously; the IV also held an emergency dose of sedatives in the event she was able to break her restraints, which didn't seem likely. They had questioned her, taken blood samples, and even used waterboarding to get her to talk. Luckily, Kelly's SERE training including surviving many forms of torture, waterboarding among them.

"I understand everything that has been done to you," her interrogator said. "Did you know the UNSC took you from your family, and made them think you had died? I don't think they had any right to do this, do you?"

Nothing they had said to her over the past few days had managed to break her resolve, even digging up secrets that she had no idea how they managed to obtain.

"I see you're not feeling talkative, its not an issue with us. We'll have plenty of time to work on this in the future," the interrogator said as he left the room and entered the adjoining observation room where several men in suits stood looking at Kelly through the glass partition.

"You're not making any progress," one of them said to the interrogator.

"She's obviously been trained well, my normal psychological and physical tactics aren't breaking her."

"We need her to cooperate. She obviously has the potential to divulge more tactical information then Halsey would. We still haven't been able to decrypt the data we copied from her, assuming its still even useful."

"What progress have we made on the medical front?"

Another man stepped out of the shadows, dressed in a white laboratory coat and holding a clipboard.

"We've taken blood and tissue samples, performed a complete physical and have tried to get samples of her bone marrow, but we can't penetrate the material covering her bones. According to the information we gathered on this Earth's Internet, she also has enhanced eyesight and improved reflex times caused by a superconducting material covering her nerve tissue. I would need to remove one of her eyes and possibly her brain to study this further and determine if we can replicate it."

"We don't want her dead yet, she still has useful information. We can send her back home where a more thorough interrogation and examination can be conducted."

"I'm afraid that won't be possible for several days, another suit said, our hosts won't be able to successfully interrupt the power grid without drawing too much attention. We will have to wait."

"In the mean time, I believe I found a possible psychological weakness," the doctor said, "my tests indicate that she was pregnant roughly six years ago."

"I know the perfect thing for the job," the interrogator said as he reached into a case and pulled out a vial of a clear liquid, "sedate her."

--

Kelly woke up sometime after the sedative was automatically administered, feeling groggy and unable to control her own body. Her vision was extremely blurry, but she thought she could make out two figures standing in front of her. She squinted to try and see properly, but it wasn't necessary as a scream let her know who it was.

"Mommy!"

"Rebbecca!" Kelly said in a panicked voice as suddenly her daughter came into view.

"Try and get her back" the other figure said as he came into view, Colonel Ackerson. He grabbed hold of Rebbecca's arm and pulled her to him.

"You bastard!" Kelly said, "I told you what would happen if you ever touched her!"

"Then make good on it" Ackerson said.

Kelly struggled against her restraints, but they wouldn't break no matter how hard she pulled on them. Ackerson began to laugh.

"You can't even protect her, what kind of parent is that?" He sneered.

"Let her go!" Kelly said, her cry sounding more desperate.

"She belongs to me now," Ackerson said as she pulled Rebbecca into the darkness. Kelly was silent for a minute until an ear piercing scream cane from where Ackerson had gone, Rebbecca's scream.

"No!" Kelly said.

"If you had just told us what we want to know, we could have removed the restraints," a disembodied voice said.

That was enough to drive Kelly over the edge, she started thrashing around in her seat, trying desperately to get free, all the while the scream haunted her mind. Finally, she gave up trying to break free and cried, she cried for any number of reasons, but to her captors the fact they were breaking her made them smile at her misery.

**

* * *

**

April 28, 2009

**location: Earth, North America, Washington DC- J. Edgar Hoover building**

Ten FBI agents made their way to the holding cells under orders from the president to stop a possible torture of one of their suspects. When they arrived outside the room, the CIA blocked the door. After being shown the orders from the president, the CIA moved out of the way and the FBI entered the room. They found the prisoner, still chained to his chair, in tears. Kyle was standing away from him, leaning on the wall.

"What did you do to him?" The lead FBI agent asked.

"Nothing," Kyle said, "nothing at all."

"Turn around, hands on your head" the agent said as he moved forward with a pair of cuffs. Kyle complied and allowed the FBI to take him into custody. After being escorted to his cell and remaining there for over an hour, General Denning arrived.

"I don't know how you managed to pull that off," Denning said, "but the FBI aren't going to charge you with torturing a suspect, since according to the security footage you never laid a finger on him."

"I had... other means to get the information," Kyle said as a guard unlocked the cell and allowed Kyle to leave with the General. They were escorted to the parking garage and got into a motorcade that took them to Andrews AFB.

"The president isn't very happy with you right now, he _suggested_ you return to your ship," Denning said on the ride.

"I was planning on going back anyway, I have a rescue mission to plan," Kyle said.

"Does that mean you found them?" Denning said.

"Yes" Kyle replied as their car arrived at the Air Force base.

"You gonna tell me or what?" Denning said as Kyle got out of the car.

"Ask the president if he feels like giving China a call," was all Kyle said as he left the car and went to the nearby hanger where a separatist dropship was waiting with Cassandra, Maria, the Chief and Captain Cutter.

"I take it you got the information?" Cutter asked.

"Yes sir, their commander told me that they initially set up a base in cooperation with the Chinese military. Crosstime thought they would be more willing to trade resources and technology," Kyle said.

"So how do we find their base?" The Chief said.

"A friend told me the equipment they use to make their jumps between universes takes a lot of power, find someplace in China that's soaking up all the juice and we have their base," Kyle said.

**

* * *

**

Date unknown

**location: unknown**

Eight days they had been trapped underground now, and bin eight days they hadn't found a way out of this cave system they were in, if anything, it was like going deeper down. Tom only had a few days before his fever would return, and with their med supplies all but exhausted, they couldn't treat him. He still remained vigilant that he would be all right.

The water source they found three days ago turned out to be an underwater aquifer, while it didn't help them get out they at least were able to replenish their own water stores. They were moving through some narrow passages when suddenly Lucy stepped on an unstable section and ended up falling through the floor.

"Lucy!" Tom said as he prepared to go down the hole after her.

You are injured" Wighen said as he placed a hand in front of Tom, "it wouldn't be a good idea for you to take a fall like that, I will retrieve her."

Wighen gave his pack of supplies and carbine rifle to Shane before taking position at the hole.

"Good luck" Fred said, "if you can, radio us when you find her and see if you can scale this hole back up. If not we'll find a way down to you."

"Understood, Lieutenant" Wighen said before he dove into the hole. He landed on a slanted rock face and began to tumble downwards. Using his hands, the Sangheili clawed the side of the rock to slow his descent successfully. He saw another hole up ahead that looked like it was caused by an extreme weight on an already weakened surface. Wighen dropped down through this hole and after landing in a small pile of rubble, he saw a Spartan sprawled out on the ground.

"Spartan, are you ok?" Wighen asked as he shook Lucy.

"Yeah, I'm fine" Lucy said as she stood up, "curled myself into a ball the moment I fell. How far down are we?"

"My system display tells us we are several meters below the rest of Blue Team" Wighen said as he consulted a small readout on his arm plating.

"Did you toss a glow stick down here?" Lucy asked.

"No."

"Then where's all this light coming from?"

Wighen looked around a sure enough the chamber they landed in was being illuminated from a passage around the corner. Lucy and Wighen investigated this and were shocked at what they found.

"Lieutenant," Wighen said over the radio.

"_Did you find Lucy?"_ Fred asked.

"Yes, but we have also located something of interest, use the hole and make your way to us" Wighen replied.

It didn't take long for Fred Shane and Tom to make their way down to the pair and they to were shocked by what they had found. In front of them was a wall Forerunner design, but the question was, how did this get down here?

"You think the crystal malfunctioned, sent us somewhere else in our own universe?" Shane asked, "I mean it took a hit after all.

"Could be," Fred said as he walked forward. Suddenly, a crystal of some kind emerged from the wall and a green beam of light appeared, scanning the group. When it got to Fred, the crystal recessed and the wall seemed to lift up, revealing a Forerunner passageway.

"Orders, sir?" Tom asked as they kept their weapons at the ready.

"Let's check it out" Fred replied as he took point inside the structure.

**

* * *

**

April 28, 2009

**location: Earth orbit, UNSC_ Spirit of Fire_**

"This mission is utmost a stealth mission" Kyle said to the rest of the Spartans assembled in armory D, where Kyle was going over several mission specifics using a holographic console situated towards the back of the room.

"This is also a Spartan only, volunteer mission. Before I go any further, I want to ask for volunteers."

The remaining Spartans, all in their various forms of MJOLNIR armor, raised their hands.

"Good, now as soon as we can determine the exact..."

"Bridge to Spartan-091," Serina said over the intercom, "you have a transmission from the surface."

"Put it up here" Kyle said as he walked over to one of the monitors at the back wall. General Denning appeared on the monitor.

"_Kyle, I have an official request from the president to not launch a military rescue mission into China,"_ Denning said, "_he's going to use back channels to see if he can find any information on where Crosstime traffic is operating, if they're even operating in China at all."_

"Sir, the information I received is firsthand and as soon as I determine the location of their base, I'm going in. I don't need the US president's authorization," Kyle said.

"I figured you'd say that," Denning said.

"We're receiving an upload" Serina said.

"_This is intel from the CIA regarding a Chinese military base in central China. Six days ago the region around the base suffered an unexplained power outage, CIA thinks the base was testing some kind of new weapon that could dampen power grids, like an EMP. I'd be willing to bet that's your base right there."_

"Thank you, General" Kyle said.

"_Good luck, I hope you get your friend back."_

Denning disappeared off the screen and Kyle returned to the table where Serina uploaded the location of the base as well as the surrounding area.

"Ok here's the plan," Kyle said, "we'll split into three teams, omega, blue and delta. Delta team will be Linda, Jerome and Maria, our snipers. Your job will be to find locations to give us sniper support, and you'll need to cover our retreat to the LZ, here. Kyle highlighted an area quarter of a mile from the base. We'll bury a heavy weapons cache there and use it to hold out until extraction."

"What about the other two teams?" The Chief asked.

"Chief, you'll be leading blue along with Alice and Will. Your objective is to find the equipment Crosstime uses to travel between universes, and destroy it. I'll lead omega team with Douglas and Cassandra, we're going to find Kelly and get her out. When we find her, I'll send a signal to bravo to destroy the equipment."

"How are we gonna find both locations? It could take hours to search the base." Douglas said.

"That's what our assorted AIs will be doing, Kyle said as both Kalmiya and Cortana appeared on the table. "Cortana's written a program to access their computers despite how primitive they are, she can then find both locations. Kalmiya will wreak havoc with their security systems using the same program. This is a military base after all, they have way more firepower then the Iranians we ran into. Are there any more questions?"

"No, sir!" the Spartans chanted in unison.

"Good, get loaded up and down to the hanger deck, remember this is a stealth mission, but keep your options open when it comes to weapons." Dismissed!

Kyle and the Chief retrieved their respective AIs and interfaced them with their armor. The rest of the Spartans broke up and began raiding the armory, selecting various weapons and equipment. Kyle moved over to the assault rifles as did the Chief and grabbed one of MA5Bs that had been modified to carry a silencer. Kyle then proceeded to get a secondary weapon when he noticed a crate of ODST equipment from the _Razor's Edge_ lying near by. Inside he found a rack of M6C/SOCOM pistols, standard issue for special operations forces. He grabbed one along with a silencer, and several clips of the special M225 ammunition it used. Kyle grabbed grenades, thermite-carbon cord, C-7 explosive, a lockpick and four grenades, two frag and two plasma. Once he was settled on equipment, he joined the rest of the Spartans in heading down to the hanger deck. Alice and Jerome were the last to arrive, carrying the heavy weapons they were going to leave at the LZ. As everyone boarded the dropship that would take them down, Captain Cutter walked up to Kyle.

"Sir, we're prepped and ready to go" Kyle said.

"I'm putting a strike force on stand by in case things get too hot down there," Cutter said.

"Sir, we can handle this ourselves and get out safely," Kyle said, "besides, we don't want to draw too much attention to ourselves."

"Never the less, they're going on standby. Hopefully we won't need them. Bring her back, Commander."

"Yes sir" Kyle said as he saluted and boarded the dropship.

"Nervous?" Kalmiya asked.

"A little," Kyle said, "what if they've moved her somewhere else, like their home Earth?"

"Then we'll just have to go a little farther to get her, but we'll get her back" Kalmiya said.

"I hope so."

**

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April 28, 2009

**location: Y'Deio system (HD 69830), Covenant mobile starbase _Unyielding Apocalypse_ **

Inside the prophet's private chambers, modeled to look exactly like the original inner sanctum on High Charity, sat the prophet who had been leading the loyalists for five years, when he had become of age. His two sentinel protectors hovered around his chair, always looking for threats. The doors to the sanctum opened and the Jiralhanae chieftain entered the room before bowing to the prophet.

"What have you to report?"

"The Kig-Yar homeworld is not anywhere in the system, we searched every gas giant but could not find the habitable moon," the chieftain said. "Our scouts have also returned from the vicinity of Palamok, the planet and its system do not exist, nor can we locate it."

They had been getting these strange reports ever since they found themselves in another part of space following the activation of the holy crystal relic to pursue the demons. The prophet had determined they had traveled back in time and therefore ordered they and their fifteen remaining ships set out to contact the past Covenant and warn them of the eventual downfall humanity would cause. They had first sent scouts to Dosiac, the Jiralhanae homeworld only to find it uninhabitable. They had searched the home systems of every Covenant species, looking to contact the Covenant of the past only to find those worlds were either uninhabited or didn't exist all together. Not having a record of High Charity's flight path of 500 years ago didn't help matters. Currently, they were searching the Y'Dieo system for the Kig-Yar homeworld, only to come up empty again. The chieftain had just informed him that the system the Yanme'e inhabit didn't exist.

"What are your orders, holy one?"

"Recall the remaining ships. Once they have arrived I will have decided on a course of action."

"At once, prophet," the chieftain said as he bowed once more and left the chamber.

"For a savage race, they are very loyal to you," a voice said from the shadows.

"Do you wish to expose yourself with your careless actions, the chieftain could have seen you!" The prophet barked.

"I remained hidden during his appearance, and if he did see me I could easily deal with him" the voice replied. "Do you plan to go to Earth?"

"It is unwise to do so without consulting the rest of the Covenant first," the prophet said.

"When are you going to realize your Covenant isn't here?" The voice asked.

"I will not hear such blasphemy!" The prophet said.

"What if the humans used their device to prevent the Covenant from coming to be?" the voice said. "Would it not make sense to exact revenge?"

"I have my own plans for the humans of Earth. If the demons have caused this cataclysm and erased the Covenant from history, then we shall rebuild it. We shall go to Earth, and I will deal with the humans once and for all."


	21. Chapter 20: if you want blood

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**chapter 20: if you want blood, you got it**

**April 28, 2009**

**location: Earth, Central China- Chinese military base**

"Omega-one, this is delta-one. We've taken up positions around the base and have a pretty good view of the entire complex," Linda said over the COM.

Teams Omega and Blue moved toward the perimeter fence, keeping low to the ground to avoid the patrol jeep that traversed the perimeter. Once it was out of sight, Kyle used hand signals to instruct Will to cut the fence. Will made quick work of the fence and the Spartans made their way inside the perimeter.

"No sign of motion detectors," Kalmiya said.

"Can you access their networks?" Kyle asked.

This time it was Cortana who answered, "no. I can't detect any wireless signals in range. If we don't find any when we get closer we're gonna have to find a computer terminal that's connected to their networks."

"Just what we need, a detour" Douglas said.

"Its our only option" Kyle said, "lets find the closest computer."

Kyle received six acknowledgment lights and using hand signals, Kyle ordered them to fan out and head for the closest building, which was little more than a shed that was probably used as an observation post. Kyle entered first and found that one one was there, however there was a computer terminal on the far wall.

"Cortana, you're on" Kyle said.

The Chief entered next and removed a small fiber optic cord from his belt. Fixing it to his helmet, he plugged the other end into the USB port on the computer.

"This system is a mess, do you realize how much processing power there is on these old things?" Cortana said.

"Can you get us in or not?" Kyle asked.

"Its a bit difficult using a remote infiltration program, but I've accessed their networks. However their terminal only has access to view only network info, it doesn't have administrator access. I do however have access to an overview of the base."

Cortana transmitted a map of the base to all the Spartans' HUDs, and highlighted and identified the various buildings.

"There, far side of the complex is the medical wing," Kyle said as he highlighted the building on the map. "They might have her there."

"We should search for the stockade instead," Douglas said, "it would be to risky to keep her in a hospital of all places. She would have broken out by now."

"They might be trying to study her, learn about her augmentations," Kyle said.

"Listen to what you're saying, you're essentially implying she's being dissected" Douglas said.

"Watch your mouth, Petty Officer!" Kyle said.

"Yes, sir" Douglas replied.

"Omega-one, I've spotted some power cables leading to a hangar marked on the map as being unused" Linda said, "there are vehicles and lights on in there, somethings got to be going on in there."

"Alright. Chief, take Blue Team and check out that hanger, delta will provide support. Omega, we're going to check out the medical wing first, then the stockades."

Kyle received the acknowledgment lights from the three teams before they all fanned out and away from the small shed, careful to avoid the jeep patrol as it came back around.

--

Along the other side of the base, the Master Chief scaled a ladder that lead to the roof of the hangar that Linda had seen the unusual activity. The rest of Blue Team had found cover near by and would wait until the Master Chief had finished his recon of the building before planning their next move.

The Chief got onto the roof and began looking for a skylight to try and see inside. He eventually found a roof access hatch and opened it, discovering it lead to a catwalk above the interior of the hangar. Not wanting to risk detection, the Master Chief took out his fiber optic probe and snaked it down through the open hatch, patching the feed into his HUD and relaying it to the rest of his team.

The room was mostly empty, save for the strange equipment set up along the far side where the power cables led inside. There was various spokes that looked like transformers scattered around two focusing lenses of some kind, these in turn were controlled from a set of consoles on the opposite side of the hangar. Various soldiers and scientists dotted the room.

"This has to be it, the design isn't like anything I've ever even seen" Cortana said.

"The question is, how do we destroy it?" Alice said over the COM.

"We shouldn't be so quick to destroy it" Will said, "what if they took Kelly to the other side? There are an infinite number of parallel universes out there, we should hack the control console and see if it has any data on their universe that we can use to align our Forerunner crystal to."

"We have to capture it first" the Chief said, "they aren't going to let us just walk in and take what we need."

"Their wireless network access appears to be a bit stronger here, give me a minute and I can access their security system, trigger a diversionary alarm."

"Do it" the Chief replied, "Will, Alice, take up breaching positions, we're going in."

"Chief, the only place I can draw them to is the south side of the complex, that's near the medical wing," Cortana said.

"She has a point, you'd be sending their security right at Kyle's team" Will said.

The Master Chief wrestled with the decision for a minute before deciding.

"We don't have another option, hopefully they'll realize the hangar is under attack and turn around," the Chief said, "Cortana, trigger the alarm."

"Already done" Cortana replied, "you'd better hurry!"

The Chief dove through the hatch and landed on the cat walk, assault rifle at the ready. He then jumped from the catwalk to the hanger floor, causing quite a stir when the various soldiers and scientists all spun around to see who hand landed in their midst. Thankfully, they were distracted when Alice and Will breached their way in, guns blazing. The scientists all hit the deck while the soldiers tried in vein to return fire. Bullets splashed off the shields of the three Spartans as they evaded the gunfire and returned the favor, killing all the guards inside of two minutes. Unfortunately for them, they didn't notice the one scientist who was manning the controls for the equipment, enter several commands.

"Hands up!" Will barked.

When he refused to comply, Will shot him in the arm before running over to the controls. The scientist finished entering commands and the room power dropped. Static washed across The Chief's HUD as the two emitters formed a translucent portal that resolved into a mirror of energy. The scientists scrambled up and began running through the portal, the Spartans not even bothering to stop them.

"Chief, this thing is draining power from the entire base and the surrounding area. I've lost my connection to their networks" Cortana said.

"Great, they're going to be all over us" Will said.

"Get some C-7 on this thing!" The Chief ordered.

"Yes, sir" Alice replied as she removed the can of foaming explosive and sprayed it on the active emitters.

"My calculations indicate that an explosion of sufficient size should be amplified by the raw energy of the portal," Cortana said, "it'll be enough to make sure no one can reverse engineer whatever's left."

"What about their security, can you hear their radio chatter?" The Chief asked.

"They've gone to full alert and are mobilizing the division stationed here, as well as calling for reinforcements," Cortana said, "they're still heading for the south side of the complex."

"We've done our job here, we can't stay here which means getting the data is out of the question," Alice said as she finished spraying the explosives.

"Let's move and link up with Kyle's team" said Will, "they need all the help they can get if the military forces are still moving for them."

"Let's move, we have to hurry!" Said the Chief.

--

The medical wing was a medium sized, two story building that wasn't much for a hospital. On the second floor, a Chinese duty nurse made her rounds, checking on the only two patients in the entire building. She was returning to her station down the hall to enter the latest progress on their recovery when she saw yet another American business man enter the restricted elevator. The base commander made no statement as to why the Americans businessmen and scientists had come to the base, and were using the abandoned hanger to the north. She knew questioning their actions wasn't her job, so she returned to her duties. Upon sitting down at her desk, she felt something cold and metallic press against the back of her head.

"Tell me where that suit was going" a voice from behind her said.

The nurse froze up at first, trying to figure out who was behind her and why he was speaking English. She assumed he was an American sent to find the other Americans so she started pointing in the direction of the restricted elevator. Eventually, the man behind her must have caught on to what she was saying, because the next thing she knew, she had been hit over the side of the head by his weapon.

--

Inside a subbasement, the three suits watched as their head scientist prepared to go for another round with Kelly. They had succeeded at finding her weaknesses, however the shock of making her live through them made her almost unresponsive. Her head lay to one side, unable to focus on anything, she also muttered inconsistency.

"I told you we shouldn't have upped the dosage," the scientist said, "we might have caused permanent brain damage."

"Can she still communicate, can she still tell us what we need to know?" One of the suits asked.

"We have caused permanent psychological trauma!" The scientist barked, "she may not recover at all!"

Suddenly, alarms began to blare, followed moments later by all the lights and computers going off. Emergency battery powered lights sprung on moments later. A soldier came into the observation room and spoke with the suits before returning to his duties.

"Doctor, it seems we've been compromised and someone activated the portal. We're closing shop here, make sure she's ready for transport."

"I'll prepare a heavy duty sedative" he said as he moved to a nearby table and loaded a syringe with the liquid. The suits meanwhile left the observation room and were escorted by their guards to the elevator. Once they reached the elevator, they noticed it was on its way back down. Before they could realize what had happened, the doors opened and four napalm and frag grenades went off, shooting flames and shrapnel down the hall and into the suits and their guards. Seconds later, two Spartans dropped down through the shaft and crashed through the elevator car's roof.

"Police them, make sure they're dead," Kyle said to Cassandra.

Cassandra nodded and began to shoot the various charred bodies with her pistol. Meanwhile down the hall, the remaining scientist had heard the commotion and locked the door into the room he was in with Kelly. He moved in front of Kelly and prepared to administer the sedative when a breaching charge went off, sending th door flying straight into the other side of the room. The conclusive force propelled the scientist into Kelly, and he was pulled off of her not a moment later when Kyle rushed the room. However, neither of them noticed that he had accidentally pierced Kelly in the chest with the syringe, which was now empty in his hands.

"Don't shoot me!" The scientist pleaded to Kyle once he pointed his SOCOM at him.

"What the hell did you do to her!?" Kyle barked.

"I... I gave her a psychotropic agent to put her in a state of panic, she essentially lived her greatest fears. I was ordered to do it, I swear!"

"You should have thought twice, you bastard!" Kyle said before he pulled the trigger three times. With the scientist out of the way, he broke Kelly's restraints and then cupped her face in his hands, depolarizing his faceplate at the same time.

"Kelly, its me," Kyle said.

"They took her, he has her" Kelly muttered.

"No ones been taken, you're safe, I'm getting you out of here" Kyle said.

"We have to get her," Kelly mumbled.

"She's not lucid enough to understand you," Kalmiya said, "we need to get her to the infirmary on the ship, now!"

Kyle carefully lifted her out of the seat and held her bridal style as he walked back to the elevator. Cassandra was busy hooking up a makeshift pulley from the elevator cables that Douglas was operating from the ground floor. Cassandra was first up the pulley, and after it appeared to hold up to her, Kyle who was still carrying Kelly, went next. Once on the ground floor, Kyle threw Kelly over his shoulder and drew his pistol.

"You can bet that power outage caused the base to go on alert," Kalmiya said.

"We need to get moving then!" Kyle said.

Douglas took point to ensure Kelly wouldn't be hit in a crossfire that was more than likely to occur. They made it to one of the emergency exits along the south side of the hospital, which faced the perimeter fence. Just as Douglas was preparing to open the door, Kyle put his arm out in front of him.

"Check your HUD" Kyle said.

On all the Spartans HUDs, red dots scattered the other side of the door they were going to use.

"Is there another way out?" Cassandra asked.

"By the time we find another door, they'll have a proper perimeter set up," Kalmiya said.

"We'll have to fight our way out then," Kyle said, "I'll put Kelly somewhere safe and we'll take these guys out."

Just as Kyle was going down the hall to find somewhere to put Kelly down, his HUD flashed three friendly contacts. Seconds later gunfire erupted from outside and one by one the red contacts disappeared. Douglas opened the door slowly, his SMG at the ready, however the weapon wasn't needed. Blue Team had taken care of the troops waiting to ambush omega team.

"Do you have her?" The Chief asked as they came out. He saw that Kyle had Kelly over his shoulder and nodded to him.

"Do it" Kyle said to the Chief.

The Chief nodded again and accessed the detonator command from his HUD. Seconds later, a massive explosion shook through their feet as a smoke plume formed nearby.

"Lets get the hell out of here!" Kyle said, "delta team, provide cover for our fall back."

Three green status blights later, the six Spartans started running as fast as they could to the perimeter fence. They ran as fast as they could, and kept going until they reached the LZ and rendezvous with delta team.

"Kyle, they're mobilizing everything they have to find us" Kalmiya said after monitoring the radio dispatches.

We'll be outta here soon enough Kyle said as he found a nearby boulder and laid Kelly against it.

"She's still really out of it, I'm concerned there might have been some form of permanent damage." Kalmiya said.

"She's going to be just fine!" Kyle said.

"Sir, we have problems" Will said, "vehicles approaching, along with ground troops."

"What's their direction?" Kyle asked.

"Right for us" Will replied.

"Delta team, pick up the pace we're looking at the LZ being overrun inside of a few minutes" Kyle said over the COM, to which only static replied.

"They're blanketing our frequencies" Kalmiya said.

"How the hell would they know our frequencies?" Cassandra asked.

"Kelly could have broken, told them everything" Douglas said.

"I don't want to hear those kinds of theories, do I make myself clear!? Kyle said.

"Kyle, stop letting your feelings for her get in the way of your job!" Douglas said

Kyle walked towards Douglas, fits clenched. Douglas returned the favor and walked towards Kyle, keeping his assault rifle at his side. Just when things appeared to spiral out of control, Alice stepped in between the two.

"Save the testosterone for the enemy!" She said. "Kyle, you need to concentrate on leading us while you Douglass need to focus on following his orders!"

Both Spartans backed down, though neither were any less diffused.

"What are your orders, _sir_?" Douglas asked.

"Break out the heavy weapons cache, we're gonna have to hold this LZ until delta team can get here, or until the phantom arrives."

Alice and Will began digging with their bare hands in the sand where they left the weapons cache. It didn't take them long to dig up every box of equipment they had brought down, and soon the Spartans were arming themselves. Alice had brought a chain gun, Will and Cassandra were using SPNKrs, Douglas had packed an M99 gauss rifle. Finally, the Master Chief and Kyle were armed with two Spartan lasers. After placing several LOTUS mines around the perimeter of their LZ, the Spartans settled in for the fight that was coming.

Kyle placed the Chief on guard duty for Kelly and assigned Cortana and Kalmiya to try and find ways of breaking through the jamming signals, to signal the Spirit to send the dropship down for them. Soon, the Spartans were engulfed in a firefight as Douglas decided to start firing on the troops. Seeing as it was probably a good idea to reduce their numbers, he gave the order to open fire with the missile launchers.

Twins trails of smoke soon erupted from the Spartans' position and struck the two lead vehicles of the approaching force. They scattered for cover and began returning fire on the Spartans' position. Douglas began countering with fire from his M99 against their snipers, but it wasn't god enough. Within minutes several APCs and infantry fighting vehicles arrived, and decided to try a brute force charge with the patrol.

"Chief, get up here!" Kyle said.

Kyle and the Chief took positions on the rock and drew their lasers, targeting a separate APC each. To the Chinese, it looked as if red lighting as destroyed their vehicles; never ever the less it stopped their advance. Unfortunately for the Spartans, they decided to use mortars instead. They began shelling the rock the Spartans had been posted on so they were forced to fall back down for protection. Two large explosions signaled the detonation of two of the mines they had planted, either through mortar fire or some bold troops.

"Kyle, we've got aircraft approaching from multiple vectors, probably helicopters," Kalmiya said.

"Cassandra, Will, reload those launchers, we're gonna have more company soon!" Kyle said.

The mortar fire increased and Kyle looked over at Kelly, she was curled up, obviously in fear of the explosions occurring not far from their position. It took everything he had to try and not go over to her, to comfort her. Between worrying about Kelly and the explosions and the gunfire, Kyle didn't hear the dull roar coming from the rock rise directly behind their position. To the Chinese, it was as if a giant flying turtle was coming right at them, but to the Spartans it was a godsend. A fully armed UNSC Vulture soared toward their positions, its twin auto cannons spewing destruction on the Chinese forces. The twin missile pods towards the back of the aircraft opened up on the two attack helicopters that were barring down on it. Finally, the large craft finished off the force by opening up four of the missile tubes on its back, unleashing half its armament of ANVIL-IV air to surface missiles. Four blossoms of flame now covered the area where the Chinese force once stood.

As soon as the barrage was complete, three Pelicans landed and to the Spartans' surprise, delta team emerged from them.

"We gotta move, fighters are inbound on our position" Linda said.

"Fall back to the pelicans!" Kyle said as he scooped up Kelly in his arms and ran to the nearest Pelican. The Master Chief, Cassandra, Will and Douglas got in the same Pelican as Kyle while the rest got into the other ones. Soon, the three pelicans and vulture began their slow ascent upwards. Until they cleared the atmosphere, their vulture would have to travel considerable slower and not wanting to rob themselves of its defensive arsenal, the pelicans flew formation with it.

Inside the troop compartment, Kyle laid Kelly down on one of the seats. She was still out of it and Kyle was beginning to suspect if there had been some damage after all.

"Cassie, find the medical kit and see if there's an anti-psychotic in there," Kyle said.

"I'm on it," she replied.

Kyle knelt down on the deck plating and held Kelly's hand.

"K-Kyle?" Kelly weakly asked.

"Its me, you're safe now."

"Ackerson.. he took Rebbecca... I saw him."

"No, they made you see that, it didn't happen. She's safe and sound, we'll see her soon," Kyle said.

Kelly was about to say something else when her breathing became more heavy and erratic; she started to thrash around and cough.

"Kelly, what's wrong!?" Kyle said. "Cassandra, hurry up!"

Cassandra arrived with the medical kit and after removing a portable MRI, she scanned her chest cavity.

"What is it?" Kyle said.

"I don't get it" Cassandra said, "its her diaphragm, somethings paralyzed it!"

"Can you fix it!?" Kyle barked.

"I-I don't know how!" Cassandra said.

"Pilot, accelerate to maximum and tell the _Spirit_ to prepare to receive a critically injured on arrival!" The Chief ordered.

"But sir, the vulture..." the pilot stated to say.

"Do it now, that's an order!" The Chief barked back.

"Yes sir!"

Kyle felt the dropship begin to accelerate to its top speed in a desperate attempt to reach the _Spirit_ in time.

"Kelly, listen to me, you gotta hold on ok?" Kyle said in an increasingly desperate voice, "you just gotta hold on until we can get to the ship... don't do this to me!"

Kelly looked up at Kyle and although it was unlikely that she had suddenly recovered from her ordeal and became lucid enough, she reached out with her free hand and weakly drew a Spartan smile across his faceplate. She smiled herself briefly before she seized one more time.

... and her limp hand slipped from Kyle's grasp.


	22. Chapter 21: live to win

**Sorry this took so long, I have been swamped with schoolwork and haven't had the time to write. Updates I'm afraid are going to be sporadic from now on. Don't forget to review!**

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Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine

**chapter 21: live to win**

**April 28, 2009**

**location: Earth orbit, UNSC _Spirit of Fire_**

The last hour had been both a blur and the longest in Kyle's entire life. He stood motionless in the hallway that lead to the infirmary, still clad in his armor although his helmet was missing; he couldn't recall where it had ended up.

"_Clear!"_

"_Still no pulse"_

The attempts of the doctors to revive Kelly still echoed through his head, the images of her on the gurney in the hangar, him running after the gurney. Finally the CMO coming out and telling them there was nothing they could have...

"Kyle?" Cassandra said, breaking him out of his concentration. Kyle made a halfway glance in her direction and waited for a response.

"The Captain, he wants a debrief about what went on... look if you don't want to do it I'm sure..."

"You do it, then" Kyle muttered before walking further down the hall to be alone once more. Cassandra shrugged and walked back in the opposite direction, rounding the corner to face Doctor Halsey. Cassandra simply shook her head to the older woman before continuing on; Halsey let out a sigh and went for the nearest lift.

--

"The mission was botched from the beginning sir, not enough intel or effective leadership," Douglas said to the Captain.

"Regardless of any of these assumptions, leaving Kelly in their hands would have been disastrous," Cortana said from a nearby holotank.

Douglas, Cortana and The Master Chief were giving a debriefing to Captain Cutter an hour and a half after they returned form the surface. Douglas, had so far been patronizing Kyle's handling of the situation while the Master Chief and Cortana defended his actions.

"Captain, you must also take into account the fact that Kelly was killed during the rescue attempt, the sole focus of the mission," Douglas said.

"Do you not even care that she's dead?" The Chief asked in a bitter voice.

"Of course I care, but if Kyle's leadership was compromised by his feelings for Kelly, then he is in part responsible for her death," Douglas said, "regulations clearly state that..."

"I know damn well what the regulations are" Cutter said. "I don't know what issue you have with Kyle, but it ends, now."

"Yes, sir" Douglas said.

"How's Kyle holding up?" Cutter asked.

"Not well, I'm afraid" Halsey said as she entered the room. "He's trying to hide his feelings, something he's never been good at. Do we know anything on how Kelly... I mean what caused her death?"

Serina appeared on the holotank next to Cortana.

"A preliminary examination of Spartan-087's body found evidence she was given intravenous injections, its possible they could have poisoned her the moment the base went on alert," the AI said, "we won't know more until the blood tests come back and a full autopsy is carried out."

"Captain, we should seriously consider relieving Kyle from duty, to let him cope with what happened" Halsey suggested.

"Why are we giving him any leeway, soldiers are supposed to know the risks of getting involved with another soldier," Douglas said.

"Captain, Kyle and Kelly... well they have a daughter and I can't imagine what Kyle's going to have to say to her" Halsey said.

"I already know this, doctor Cutter said, "I'll see to it he's escorted to his quarters. We've got General Denning coming aboard in an hour and as much as I'd appreciate Kyle there, he's no good to us right now. Everyone is dismissed."

The Master Chief collected Cortana and returned her to his armor before leaving the room.

"They have a kid" the Chief muttered to himself.

"I take it that surprised you?" Cortana asked as they continued down the hall.

"Spartans having children, it just never occurred to me," the Chief said. "The whole idea of settling down doesn't sit well. I'm a soldier, I need a war to fight."

"Well I'm sure the UNSC will have some purpose for you, as for me I know they'll want to deactivate me" Cortana said.

"I won't let them do that" the Chief said.

"I thought you were the one who loved taking orders" Cortana said jokingly, "but in all seriousness, Chief, I'm a mess."

"Halsey can fix you up, and from what I heard can even increase your lifespan" the Chief said.

"Seriously?" Cortana said, "not that this wouldn't be appreciated, but you don't want me around until you die."

"Cortana, I'll always have you with me, I promise."

"Hey, don't make a girl a promise..."

"If you know you can't keep it" the Chief finished for her, "besides, I seem to be doing a pretty good job at keeping them so far."

"Thanks for the gesture Chief, but being able to live for so long won't do me any good if I can't even touch..."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, Chief, forget I said it," Cortana said.

The Chief detected a contact on his HUD, approaching from behind. The Chief spun around and saluted, seeing as it was the Captain.

"At ease," Cutter said.

"Sir, if I may ask, what's our plan for retaliation against the Chinese?" The Chief asked.

"There is no plan, we're not attacking them simply because they were allied with Crosstime" Cutter said.

"Sir, these people harbored Crosstime and probably had a hand in planning some of their attacks," the Chief countered, "they allowed Crosstime to torture and kill my friend, why shouldn't we consider retaliating?"

"Because this isn't our Earth, Chief. We have no right to interfere and we shouldn't be helping them in the first place! Cuter said. "However we're already involved, but I won't start a war with a country that has done nothing to us directly."

"Understood, sir" the Chief replied.

"He's right, John, they haven't done anything" Cortana said to him, "it'd be no better than what the Covenant did to us."

"It doesn't seem right to just sit here" the Chief said.

"Fighting isn't always the right answer" Cortana said.

--

At the bow of the ship, Doctor Halsey entered the observation deck or as it became known to the crew now, the lab. Because the _Spirit of Fire _didn't have any other laboratory facilities aside from the medlab, which was the CMO's turf, Halsey was forced to use Anders' space along with her. The Professor was busy fine tuning a weapon she was creating in the lab, using the parts she scavenged from two Spartan lasers. Halsey walked over to the table she had set up for herself on the other side of the room. Resting on it was Kyle's helmet which she had found lying on the hanger deck earlier; the memory chip that held Kalmiya was removed and inserted into her own computer.

"Doctor, how did things go?" Kalmiya asked as she appeared on the holotank situated in the middle of the room.

"Not good, Kyle's being taken off of active duty until he can cope with what's happened," Halsey said, "we could really use his help, especially considering the Covenant is coming and he's one of the few people the US seems to trust."

"Yeah, but Kyle getting over something as bad as this isn't going to happen overnight... I can't imagine what's he's felling right now. Anger, sadness, loneliness."

"Go talk to him," Halsey said.

"He doesn't want to talk to me" Kalmiya replied.

"I've known you long enough to tell that you care about Kyle a great deal," Halsey said, "I think he'll listen to you."

"I'm that obvious, huh?" Kalmiya said, "I'd do it if I had a way into the ship's networks. That AI Serina petitioned the Captain to limit my access to non networked terminals.

"I can get you access," Halsey said, "you just have to make sure to cover your tracks."

"When have I ever not done that" Kalmiya said as Halsey plugged a fiber optic cable from her computer to one of the networked terminals on her table. Kalmiya's avatar winked off the small holopad as her program entered the _Spirit's_ main computers.

--

Since their arrival in the alternate universe, the _Light of Truth_ had been running patrols throughout the Sol system, searching for any signs of the Covenant while the _Spirit of Fire_ remained in Earth orbit. Taloar was in his quarters, going over the latest report from the human vessel. They had made an alliance with one of the nations states on the planet to resist the impending Covenant attack. They still had no whereabouts on the location of the rest of Blue Team, and his son.

"_Taloar, you are needed on the bridge."_

Taloar rose from his sitting chair and used the personal grav lift in his quarters to travel to the bridge. Once there, he requested a status update from the Unggoy manning the sensor controls. Their ship was still stealthed, and holding position near the largest planet in the system. The humans called it 'Jupiter'.

"We've detected an echo a moon orbiting the gas giant," the squat alien said.

"According to the human database, this moon is called Io" the Sangheili weapons officer said.

"This is the same area the Covenant loyalists hit during the war" Taloar said, "bring us around the other side of the moon, maximum passive scan."

Taloar watched the viewscreen as one of the displays changed to a tactical reading. Io was displayed and the _Light of Truth _was represented by a a green triangle with Covenant script underneath it. The other monitor showed a visual of the moon as they slowly rounded it. As they came around the moon, their sensors detected a significantly larger blip, too large to be an asteroid or comet. Their visual sensors were the first to make the confirmation. A massive purple, bulbous hull with a pair of fins at the back of the vessel, a Covenant destroyer.

"Turn us around," Taloar said, "set course back to Earth, maximum sublight speeds."

"Sir, we will not engage?" said the Sangheili weapons officer.

"It would be a futile gesture. To borrow a human saying, we must 'raise the alarm back home'", Taloar said.

--

Back on the _Spirit of Fire_, Kyle still stood, dazed in the hallway when a pair of Marines approached him. Each were only armed with a pistol, not that it wouldn't do them any good against Kyle if he refused the order.

"Commander, sir, umm... we're under orders from the Captain to escort you to your quarters" the lead Marine said.

"Huh?" Kyle said as he turned his head slightly in their direction.

"The Captain has ordered you relieved from duty. He told us to escort you to your quarters, sir."

"Lead the way" Kyle said in almost a whisper.

The marines escorted Kyle to his room and escorted him inside, he saw one confiscate his personal side arm before leaving, though one of them said he'd be outside if he needed anything. After the door slid closed, he sat on the floor since while still in his armor, he couldn't use any of the furniture.

"Finally, do you know how long it took to track you down?" a voice from his desk said. Kyle turned his head and saw Kalmiya projected on the holopad on the desk.

"I thought you were barred from entering the ship's computer?" Kyle said.

"Desperate times, desperate measures" Kalmiya said. "Halsey said you weren't doing so well."

"That's a understatement" Kyle said.

"Kyle, I just want to talk, about what happened, you know" Kalmiya said.

"There's nothing to talk about" Kyle replied.

"You blame yourself, but it isn't your fault" Kalmiya said.

"It is my fault, I was reckless, I was so concerned for getting her back that I didn't bother to check if anyone else was in the room. That scientist killed her and I didn't even see it."

"That's not your fault. In either case you killed the man who killed Kelly, she's been avenged."

Kyle stood up and marched over to the desk.

"You just don't get it, you don't understand what she meant to me, what Rebbecca meant to her. Kalmiya... I have to tell my little girl her mother is never coming home. I promised her we were coming back. Its my fault and I know it; she was everything to me... and.... and.... I can't even cry for her, I haven't cried once! I don't even feel human anymore."

"Kyle, you acted this way before, remember, the gravemind was probing you for information and had made you think that Kelly and the others had died trying to save you. You blamed yourself for that. Obviously this is much different than that, but the fact is in both situations there was nothing you could have done to prevent any of what happened. Kelly wouldn't want to see you like this, she'd want you to keep moving and finish the fight. A lot of people are depending on you."

"Its not that simple, Kalmiya," Kyle said.

"You need closure, Kyle" Kalmiya said. "Go see her."

"I can't.... I can't go see her like that" Kyle replied.

"Can't, or won't?" Kalmiya asked.

"Its too soon for something like that," Kyle said.

"Your Earth is still in danger, do you want to be cooped up in here while everyone else fights the Covenant. You need to start the healing process. Deep down, you know I'm right on this."

Kyle slowly nodded and went over to the closet, pulled out a fresh uniform and went into the bathroom to change. Almost an hour later he came out, his armor in piles on the floor; he'd clean it up later. Kalmiya had left sometime before, sensing that Serina was on to her. Kyle went over top the door and it slid open, the Marine guard waiting on the other side.

"Commander, do you need anything?" He asked.

"I want to go to the morgue" Kyle said.

"Sir, I'm not sure the Captain will approve..."

"She was a member of my team and I rightfully deserve to see her. I have to take responsibility of her death, like all commanders do" Kyle said.

"Alright, sir. But we'll need to make it quick, my orders are to keep you confined except for mess breaks" the Marine said as he escorted Kyle to the closest lift and took it to the deck the morgue was on. The _Spirit'_s crew had been giving it a wide birth since the battle at the Forerunner world, as many of the Flood infected bodies of their comrades were brought in for study and ultimately burned to prevent spread of what they had assumed was a biological infection.

The Marine left Kyle at the threshold of the room and allowed him to go in by himself. The double glass sliding doors parted and Kyle was met with a blast of cold air. There were a few tables spread around the room, and lockers in the walls to store the bodies. He saw a body bag on one of the slabs towards the back and instinctively knew it was hers. He stood next to the bag and slowly drew the zipper down half way. He looked down at Kelly's lifeless face, she seemed peaceful, and her skin was paler than it had ever been before. Whatever had kept Kyle from breaking down earlier had all but melted away as Kyle pressed his forehead against hers and finally cried. One of his hands rested on her shoulder as he cried, through all the tears, Kyle didn't notice the tingling feeling that was growing in his hand.

--

Captain Cutter stood on the hangar deck as the Covenant dropship was brought down through the airlock and came to a stop right above Cutter. Its hatch towards the rear opened and a grav beam emanated; two US Marines in full combat gear dropped out, followed by two more. They kept their weapons at the ready as a man dressed n a blue Air Force uniform dropped from the lift.

"General Denning, welcome aboard the _Spirit of Fire"_ Cutter said.

"Thank you, Captain," Denning replied, "I apologize for the Marines, it was the Joint Chiefs' call. I also brought a couple of passengers."

"Passengers?" Cutter asked.

From the phantom, two more people came out, both of whom Cutter recognized as Kyle's parents.

"I'm assuming you know why we're here, Captain?" Alan Stevens asked.

"Because of Kyle's loss, I understand and have no objections to you seeing him. I'll have someone escort you to..."

"Captain!" A bridge officer cried as he ran into the hanger deck. "Sir, we have a situation."

"_Captain! We have had an incident down in the morgue"_ Serina piped in at the same time.

"One at a time" Cutter said, "Lieutenant, report."

"Sir, we received a secured data burst transmission from the _Light of Truth_ four minutes ago. They found a Covenant destroyer out by Io. They think it was doing a survey for UNSC instillations; either way its changed course, its coming here inside of four hours."

"General, I think we're going to have to skip the tour," Cutter said.

* * *

Anyway, I hope this made up for the long wait. I know it isn't much, but things will be ramping up in subsequent chapters so hopefully writer's block isn't going to be an issue. Please make sure to review!


	23. Chapter 22: small miracles

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**chapter 22: small miracles**

**April 29, 2009**

**location: Earth orbit, UNSC _Spirit of Fire_**

"Open your mouth, please" one of the duty nurses said. Her patient complied and the nurse used her penlight to examine the patient's throat. When she was finished the nurse looked over at the display mounted above the hospital bed that was reading the patient's vitals. Against all odds they were all strong.

"I have to go run your blood work now, someone will be in later" the nurse said as she collected the vials she took earlier and left the room. From a room down the hall, Captain Cutter, Dr Halsey and the Master Chief watched the feed from that room's surveillance cameras. Sitting on the bed, dressed in a hospital gown, was a very much alive Kelly.

"How is this even possible?" Cutter asked.

"It shouldn't be, she was dead past the point that our medical science couldn't bring her back" Halsey commented.

"Replay the footage again" Cutter said.

One of the monitors shifted to a security camera feed from the morgue. They saw Kyle enter the room, open the bag containing Kelly's body and after touching it she began to stir. When she sat up Kyle staggered back in disbelief while Kelly surveyed the room. A minute later the guards showed up and detained both of them until Kelly was brought here.

"What are we going to do about Kyle?" The Chief asked, glancing over to one of the other monitors. Kyle was being kept in a sterilized room and a lab technician in a biohazard suit was running a battery of tests on him.

"Report?" Cutter asked over the intercom.

"_Well sir, physiologically he appears to be perfectly fine. I have picked up trace amounts of an unknown type of radiation on his left hand"_ the technician said over the COM.

"Any idea what the radiation does?" Cutter asked.

The technician suddenly removed his right glove and rolled up the sleeve of his biohazard suit.

"_I had a laceration I got during the transition a few days ago, its gone" _he said._ "Brief exposure to this radiation stimulates cell growth, essentially allowing healing."_

"_So I have healing powers now, in addition to the mind reading I guess"_ Kyle said.

"Wait, you can read minds?" Halsey asked.

"_Its a long story"_ Kyle said, "_sufficed to say, some Forerunners have certain abilities and I inherited them."_

"How come you never showed any of these abilities before now?" Cutter asked.

"_That's another long story"_ Kyle said.

Cutter deactivated the intercom for a moment.

"I think Kyle has demonstrated his healing ability before" Halsey said.

"He has?" The Master Chief asked.

"Yes, shortly after the forward section of your frigate returned to Earth it crashed in the ocean off of Africa. Kyle was impaled by a support beam on impact and was taken to the naval hospital in Sydney. We tried everything we could to save him, it was only a matter of time. He was taken off of life support for no more than a minute when his vitals stabilized, something repaired his internal injuries. I couldn't figure out what had caused it, so I had to make up an excuse for his recovery."

"If he suddenly had these abilities all those years ago then he would have told you, he knows he can trust you" the Master Chief said.

"This has to be a recent occurrence... his mother" Halsey said, "she must have taught him how."

"She's on board currently" Cutter said, "I can have her questioned about this."

"No, I'm sure whatever her reasons for doing this were purely unintentional" Halsey said.

"What about Kelly? Shouldn't she be our main concern here?" The Chief suggested.

Since Kelly had come back to life, she had been acting very reclusive, not even talking and was exhibiting signs of fear from others.

"It might just be post traumatic stress, its not every day you come back from the dead" Cutter suggested.

"There was a syndrome that soldiers developed after being revived after they were declared clinically dead, KIA syndrome" Halsey said. "Though this isn't one of the symptoms, nor does it manifest itself a few hours after revival."

"I think its time we tried talking to her" the Chief said.

--

"Can you understand what I'm saying?" Halsey asked.

Kelly slowly nodded her head. She was curled up on the bed inside her private room, Halsey with a datapad in hand, sat on a stool next to the bed.

"I'm going to ask you some yes or no questions that will help us determine what happened to you" Halsey said as she removed the stylus from her datapad.

"Can you tell me where you are?" She asked first.

Kelly shook her head very slowly.

"Do you know who I am?"

Again she shook her head and Halsey dreaded asking the next question, knowing already its outcome.

"Do you know who you are?"

Very slowly, she shook her head back and forth.

--

While Kelly was being questioned, Kyle was still kept inside the isolation room down the hall. He still couldn't believe that he'd somehow brought Kelly back to life. He hadn't messed with any of his new abilities since gaining the intel on where Kelly had been kept, now it was like they were being switched on against his will. What if he eventually lost control?

Kelly

She was alive and yet Kyle couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong, she seemed afraid when she came back. He was thinking whatever they gave her when she was held prisoner might be causing it, however that felling that it was something more kept hanging over him.

The recessed door to the isolation chamber slid open and Kyle's mother stepped inside.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Kyle asked as he got up off the bed.

"I came up with that General when we heard your rescue mission didn't go well she replied, "I also heard about what you did earlier."

"Then maybe you can tell me how to control all this" Kyle said.

"I never had healing abilities, so I have no idea how to help you" Marlyn said, "this is what I originally wanted to talk to you about."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your cousin, Marc. What you did to him the other day, it must have caused some kind of damage because he's in the hospital in a coma," Marlyn said, "this what I was afraid of, letting you use these abilities without proper training."

"Isn't there anything you could do for him?" Kyle asked.

"This is a little beyond me, Kyle," Marlyn said. "I'm not a medical doctor, nor do I have any advanced medical equipment."

"Well what if we brought Marc to the Spirit, could you use any of our stuff? I'm sure Flash can help you modify our equipment to help treat him."

"Its not a matter of equipment, its training that I simply don't have. Besides I'm not staying on the ship any longer, your Captain ordered me off."

"Why would he do that?"

"One of those alien ships is heading straight for us" Marlyn said, "he asked me to tell you that you're free to go, but General Denning wanted to see you. Whatever happens, make sure you keep yourself safe."

"Don't worry about me, mom. You're the one who needs to get out of danger" Kyle replied as she left.

--

After getting Denning's location from Serina, Kyle made his way to the conference room and was surprised to find two US Marines guarding the doors. They quickly padded Kyle down for weapons before allowing him to enter, Denning was seated at the head of the table along with Kyle's father and the remaining Marines guarded the room.

"Kyle, glad to see you're ok. We heard about what happened" Alan said.

"Why didn't you leave with mom?" Kyle asked.

"I asked him to remain, seeing as I need someone to run my security detail" Denning said. "Kyle needless to say your stunt in China hasn't made the president a happy man, the Chinese embassy is accusing us of the attack."

"You mean it went public?" Kyle asked.

"No, the Chinese contacted us through back channels. But never the less they're spooked, the fact that we called a meeting of all NATO powers probably has them convinced we're planning some sort of military action against them" Denning explained. "The fact that Covenant ship is heading this way hasn't helped matters. The president ordered an increase of alert levels, and as of this morning the Chinese have done the same and are no doubt thinking up all sorts of conspiracies against them."

"How long before the Covenant get here?" Kyle asked.

"Little under an hour" Denning replied. "Ground side, we're nowhere near ready and the president has his hands full trying to _quietly_ evacuate the government from Washington. I'm afraid this ship is the only thing standing in their way."

"And if this is just a scout then our cover's blown" Kyle said. "We loose the element of surprise."

"Either way, that ship can't be allowed to enter orbit" Alan said, "we have to stop it."

**

* * *

**

Date unknown

**location: unknown**

It had been twelve hours since what remained of Blue Team had entered the mysterious Forerunner structure and after getting turned around several times, they were finally making progress in exploring. The structure didn't look all that different from the handful Fred had been in over the years, parts were similar in design to Onyx and The Ark.

"_Blue-one, I've found what looks like a control center"_ Lucy said over the COM. Marking the location.

"Understood. Shane, help Wighen get Tom and rendezvous at Lucy's beacon" Fred ordered.

It took Fred a half hour and directions from Lucy to find the access shaft that led to the level she was on and to finally find the control center. Shane and Wighen arrived supporting a barely conscious Tom between the two of them. His condition had taken a turn for the worse and Fred estimated he probably had a couple of days at most. He hadn't told Lucy, considering the effect such news would have on her.

The control center was roughly rectangular, and also pitch black. While Tom was being set down, Fred walked over to Lucy.

"Lucy, tell me what we've got." Fred said.

"I think these are consoles of some kind" Lucy said pointing to several sets of spokes protruding from the ground, "problem is, where are the controls?"

"Have you tried touching the spokes?" Fred asked.

"All of them, nothing happened" Lucy replied.

Fred shined his MA5Cs flashlight around the room and found a green sphere at the far end of the room. Fred walked over to it and carefully laid a hand upon it. The sphere lit up and suddenly the spokes came to life; between each of them a holographic display appeared forming a roughly semi circle of controls in the center of the room. Along the far wall, holographic data screens appeared displaying a multitude of information, all in Forerunner.

"Can you translate this?" Fred asked Wighen and Shane.

"I'm not as adept as Wighen," Shane said.

"And I was trained to be a warrior, not a scientist. I have only a basic understanding of their language." The Sangheili replied.

"Terrific" Fred muttered.

"Lieutenant, I think I've got something over here" Lucy said.

"See, she has the initiative," Fred remarked to the other two before going over to Lucy. She was standing in front of one of the consoles in the semi circle.

I think I've found a floor plan, I recognize some of the symbols from the shipyard schematics. These indicate the different levels," Lucy pointed out the respective symbols on the console. "I think one of these says there's a medical facility on level five."

"Wighen, I want you to try and find your way down there. Have Lucy direct you and make sure you stay in constant contact, something about this place doesn't sit right."

"Understood" Wighen replied before he left the room.

"Can you find out where exactly we are?" Fred asked.

"I think so" Lucy replied as she manipulated the controls of a nearby station and a set of readings came up. Shane had come over by then and was able to translate.

"It looks like this facility is a couple hundred feet underground. And the ground above us just happens to be a desert, my guess judging from these soil readings we're underneath what must have been a lake. I think there was a desert on the shipyard planet."

"So the crystal really didn't take us anywhere then?" Lucy asked.

"Makes sense since we're in a Forerunner facility," Fred said. "Question is, why a separate facility on the other side of the planet?"

Shane began walking along the wall to the right of the consoles, and his hand inadvertently brushed a small control that caused the wall to become transparent. One look through told them everything they needed to know.

"Uhh, I think you should see this" Shane said.

Fred and Lucy looked up to see that the wall had become transparent and joined Shane over by it. They both looked through and down into a massive cavern carved out of the rock. They could see other parts of the Forerunner complex woven through the rock, however what interested them sat at the bottom, or rather hovered.

A small pyramid, composed of hundreds of yellow spheres was floating above the ground. Laid neatly on a large metal slab next to the pyramid were hundreds of metal rods less than a meter long.

"Onyx sentinels!" Lucy exclaimed.

"This is a defense post then" Fred said.

"_Lieutenant, this is Wighen, respond."_

"Go ahead, did you find the medical bay yet?" Fred asked over the COM.

"_No, but I believe we are not alone here."_

**

* * *

**

April 29, 2009

**location: Earth orbit, UNSC _Spirit of Fire_**

After his meeting with General Denning, Kyle immediately went down to the medical deck. He wanted to see for himself if Kelly was alright. However just as he reached the room she was in, Halsey stepped out.

"Is she ok?" Kyle asked.

"Kyle, we need to talk" Halsey said.

"After I see her" Kyle said as he tried to pass Halsey, only to have Halsey block his path.

"This important," Halsey said, "its concerning Kelly's... condition."

"What condition?" Kyle asked.

"Kelly appears to be suffering from some sort of amnesia" Halsey said, "she can't remember anything, about you, me, the UNSC, who she even is."

"No... that's impossible," Kyle said. "Was it something they did to her down there?

"I have no idea, anything they would have done to her would have been found in the autopsy, the autopsy that was never carried out" Halsey said. "Kyle, given how Kelly came back to life, I'm not ruling out what you did to her as a cause."

"No, that can't be true. My mother said they're _healing_ powers, why would it cause someone to loose their memories?"

"I have no idea, however a more likely cause would be her death itself" Halsey said.

"That doesn't seem possible, the UNSC has revived people who've been dead before and they never had any memory loss."

"True, but those time they had a chance at bringing them back, or in Linda's case were in cryo stasis" Halsey said. "The fact of the matter is she was dead for twelve hours, Halsey said."

"What are you talking about?" Kyle asked.

Halsey held out her datapad, "the human brain is basically like a computer, and information is stored on a hard drive disk. If I almost completely destroy that disk, then rebuild it to perfect working order, does all the data on it come back as well? The fact her brain cells were without blood for several hours caused some of them to wither and die, when the died, so did the information stored in them. While you regenerated them back to life, this didn't bring back the information stored in those cells. You brought her body back to life, but not her mind."

"Out of my way" Kyle said.

"Kyle, I know you're upset, but you need to listen to reason..."

"_All crew to battlestations. Covenant vessel on approach"_ Serina said over the intercom as alarms sounded throughout the ship.

"Kyle, you need to understand there's nothing you can do for her. Go, they need you right now more than her" Halsey said.

Kyle nodded, but Halsey could see his discontent.

--

"Position?"

"Just coming around the far side of the moon," Serina said from her usual position on the holo tank.

Captain Cutter walked away from the main window and back to the plotting board where Major Stevens and General Denning were standing at, mostly marveling at the holographic technology; however their focus was on the red dot that slowly made its way toward Earth from the moon.

"Ship status?" Cutter asked.

"All crew report battlestations manned and ready" Serina reported, "MAC, deck guns and missile are are all armed. I am standing by on the stealth device, we can deactivate it at any time."

"Let's wait until they get closer, if they realize Earth isn't a threat they might not bother to turn on their shields" Cutter said.

"That's an awfully risky move, especially for the people down there" Denning said.

"Its also our only guaranteed shot at destroying that ship" Cutter said, "this ship isn't designed for ship-to-ship engagements. The element of surprise is out only tactical advantage."

The door to the bridge slid open and Professor Anders and Kyle walked in.

"Anders, tell me you've got something I can use."

"I'm sorry Captain, I've been working with the monitor to enhance our weapons, however nothing we have is close to be ready. I'd need another twelve hours" Anders said.

Cutter looked over to Kyle.

"I take it you want to report for duty, Commander?" He asked.

"Yes, sir" Kyle replied.

"Good, get your teams together and in the drop bay. If the Covenant make landfall your Spartans are going to be the only support we'll be able to get to the surface in time" Cutter said.

"Captain, the _Light of Truth_ is signaling, she's take up position in a polar orbit" Serina reported.

"The light of what?" Denning asked as another green icon appeared above the Earth's northern pole on the display.

"Is that another ship?" Major Stevens asked.

"Do you people have another ship!?" Denning asked.

"General, now isn't the time for this discussion" Cutter said.

"Covenant vessel is accelerating into Earth orbit" Serina said, "detecting fighter launches."

"Helm, bring us in over them, Serina stand by on the stealth device" Cutter ordered.

"Tell NORAD to go to DEFCON 1 immediately" Denning ordered.

Major Stevens removed a satellite phone from his pocket and proceeded to make the call. More alarms began to blare as the ship moved closer to the Covenant.

"In weapons range in 20 seconds" Serina reported.

"Release safeties on nuclear warheads and load a ship to ship missile into the launch tube" Cutter ordered.

"Missile loading now, weapons range in ten, nine, eight... Captain, Covenant vessel is firing her engines... this doesn't make sense, she's breaking orbit."

"What!? Cutter exclaimed as he and everyone else at the table walked up to the viewport in time to see the Covenant destroyer bank up and accelerate away from Earth.

"They saw we were completely defenseless, why would they retreat?" Alan Stevens asked.

"They were a scout, had to be" Kyle said.

"The Covenant scouts we encountered in the early days never just retreated to the main fleet, they softened up human defenses for the main invasion" Cutter said.

"Maybe something spooked them Anders" suggested.

"In any case, we're on borrowed time" Denning said. "Major, the phone."

Alan handed the satellite phone over to the general who promptly left the bridge, obviously ticked. Kyle, for some reason chose to follow the general who had ducked into an unoccupied corridor with his Marine entourage. Kyle stayed a good distance out of sight, but not out of earshot of his enhanced hearing as he listened in to the General's conversation.

"It did leave orbit, sir.... no we haven't been able to ascertain why up here... whatever the reason we've bought ourselves valuable time. Sir, they have been keeping secrets from us, they had another ship... I understand, sir... Mr president, given the desperate nature of the situation, it might be advisable to gain access to dreamland's asset through more forceful means..."

--

Meanwhile on the Covenant ship that was accelerating in preparation to enter slipspace, the Jiralhanae bridge crew and assorted Unggoy were gathered around the vessel's luminary. The Jiralhanae were so dumbstruck that they did nothing to stop the short Unggoy as they clambered over one another for a chance to see, in fact the ship master was forced to man the helm to break orbit when the helmsman wouldn't comply out of shock.

When they had entered orbit they began a scan for any human ships or weapons that were on the surface, since there appeared to be none in orbit like the records indicated. However their luminary began broadcasting two images as soon as they entered orbit. One of the symbols indicated a relic; while the other was a slight variation of the Forerunner symbol for reclaimer, however its meaning was a thousand times greater.

Forerunner.

There was an actual Forerunner on the surface of Earth, therefore the ship master ordered an immediate return to the fleet with the news.

--

Back on the _Spirit of Fire_, Kyle and Captain Cutter joined General Denning in the briefing room, no doubt to be hashed out for not telling him they had another ship.

"Gentleman, you've been keeping a mighty big secret from us" Denning said when Kyle and Cutter walked in.

"General, the reason we didn't tell you was because we weren't sure how you'd react" Kyle said. "The second ship is Covenant, they're the ones who provided us with the dropship we've been using to go back and forth from the surface."

"You're telling me you're allied with the same aliens who almost wiped us out back there?!" Denning said.

"No, these are separatists who left the Covenant over 100 ears ago" Cutter said, "they recognized our species for that it really was and wanted to convey that to the rest of the Covenant. They're our allies and would never harm Earth."

"Frankly that isn't going to mean much to the joint chiefs. They've been pressuring the president to end this alliance because they're convinced the ship didn't find what it was looking for here and won't return with its fleet," Denning said, "frankly I'm inclined to agree with them."

"General, they'll come back because humanity was responsible for the downfall of the Covenant" Kyle said. "And frankly, General, you've been lying to us too. What's this asset you were talking to the president about?"

"I was told our satellite phone wouldn't be tapped!" Denning said.

"I assure you if Kyle was listening in on your conversation, it wasn't by my order," Cutter said.

"I'm not the guilty one here, Captain" Kyle replied, "since we came clean, its only fair you should too. I know we deceived you, and we're sorry. Lets not let billions of people die down there just because we weren't willing to trust each other."

Denning sighed and said, "50 years ago the United States government unearthed a complex of some kind."

"Was it alien?" Cutter asked.

"We're not sure, we've never been able to get inside. All the scientists who've studied it are almost positive its extraterrestrial in origin" Denning admitted, "I've breached about 100 federal and Air Force regulations by just telling you this."

"Covenant sensors have always been light years beyond ours, maybe they picked it up and decided not to take a chance, report it back in," Kyle suggested.

"If that's true, then it could be the Covenant's most likely target when they return" Cutter said.

"Then we have to get to this complex and set up a base there, fortify it against attack" Kyle said.

"No need, the Air Force thought ahead and built a base right on top off it" Denning said.

"Good, where's the base then?" Kyle asked.

"Its Area 51" Denning replied.

* * *

Phew, sorry it took so long to get this one out (yet again). School has seriously been hampering my time and I just can't focus on this as much any more. Fear not, I fully intend to finish this story within a reasonable amount of time.

Now I know some readers wanted to see Kelly come back and some wanted for the sake of the story to keep her dead. I hope I was able to reach a compromise with your wishes. I thought the idea of the hard drive comparison with the human brain was as realistic as I could get. I'd appreciate your opinion on bring her back (somewhat).


	24. Chapter 23: stand, part 1

**Message from the General: **Well I thought we'd start the new year off with a bang with the longest chapter I've ever written. And sorry for the late arrival of this chapter, school and other authors on this site have been giving me problems. And an FYI, some elements of Halo Wars will be changed for realistic purposes.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**chapter 23: stand, part 1**

**April 30, 2009**

**location: somewhere in the Nevada desert**

"_do you think we'll ever meet them?"_

The Master Chief opened his eyes to see his helmet lying a foot away from his face. He rolled over onto his back and caught sight of a pair of banshees streaking across the sky, F-16s hot on their tail. The Chief quickly got to his feet and picked up his helmet, putting it back on as he stood up.

"Chief, please" he heard Cortana faintly say; everything was a started coming in over the COM.

"_Is anyone out there?"_

"_Chief!"_

"_Chief!"_

"_Marines! Pull back now!"_

"_Any sign of the Chief?"_

"_Negative, sir. I think we lost him"_

The Master Chief found his assault rifle in the sand nearby and affixed it to his back plate. As he looked up he saw several plasma mortars arc upwards in his direction. The Chief held in his hand a bubble shield emitter, its tripod having been broken off in the same attack that left the Chief's Mongoose a smoldering wreak.

"Not yet" the Chief replied over the COM channel.

He tossed the bubble shield into the sand and the protective field enveloped him just as one of the mortars scored a lucky hit on his position. The shield failed a second later and the Master Chief dove out in a run. Grabbing his assault rifle he dove over the ledge and straight into a swarm of brutes.

**

* * *

**

April 29, 2009

**location: somewhere over the Nevada desert- C-9B transport plane **

If David thought that finding out that his brother was not only alive, but a Spartan was bad compared to the week he had, it was to get about worse. After being cleared of any wrongdoing he'd been ordered to remain at Quantico until surprisingly learning that his team was heading to Nellis Air Force base in Nevada. His team's C-9 picked him up on its refueling stopover in Virginia and continued out west in the middle of the night.

"Listen up, ladies!" Lieutenant Florence cried as he stood in the middle of the isle. "We're fifteen from touchdown, only problem is we're not landing at Nellis."

"Where the hell are we going, LT?" Corporal Grimm asked.

"Somewhere a little north of Nellis" Florence replied.

"We headed to Creech?"

"Farther" Florence said.

"Oh you can't be serious" and "this is a joke" were the replies throughout the cabin. A pair of Navy officers sitting up front passed out clipboards with papers and pens to each member of the team.

"Non disclosure agreements" Florence said, "sign em up."

"Boss, what the hell are we doing heading to the Air Force's secret playground for?" Grimm asked again.

You're guess is as good as mine, however I do know we're meeting a full Marine company out of Camp Pendleton and our overall Commander is Major Alan Stevens. Whatever this is, its big. We're working with Army, Navy and Air Force on this one. Grimm, you're acting toxic specialist since Simmons is out with that hole the Iranians were so kind to put into his gut.

"Speaking of that, you ever gonna tell us how the hell you got out of there?" Grimm asked David.

"Had to sign the same shit you did" David replied.

"Lock up those mouths gentlemen, touchdown in five. Secure the gear and get ready to move out the second we kiss dirt. Its a parking lot down there and this bird ain't staying for long," Florence said as he returned to his seat.

Five minutes later the plane touched down and David assisted in bringing off the haz-team's equipment and putting it in its designated spot just off the tarmac. The entire base was lit up by flood lights due to it being the dead of night, but from the ground it resembled any other Air Force base; it was hard to believe David was standing in the infamous Area 51.

Parked in front of the hangers however were several fighter jets, mostly F-15s and 16s, however there were a pair of F-22s. David could also see artillery pieces and even an Abrams tank being unloaded from planes at the other end of the complex. Strangely, several soldiers were digging in the ground directly in front of David and between the main runway of the base, they also appeared to be laying down metal components.

"Who the hell are those guys, corps of engineers?" Grimm asked.

"I don't recognize the uniforms" Florence said.

The men finished their task and climbed up out of their hole and moved away from the area. Over the base loud speakers came: "_all personnel, heavy transports inbound. Maintain distance."_

"Is this SOP for bringing in C-5s?" Grimm asked.

"I don't think that's a C-5" another member of the team said as he pointed to a set of strobe lights descending on them. Its four engines kicked up dust around the Marines as it settled into a hover over the hole. It looked like a flying box with jet engines attached to each of its corners. It settled into the hole and after a minute of griding noises, it lifted off, leaving half of itself behind. Before the Marines had time to recover from the shock another one appeared, but its bottom was different in design. It too landed in the hole and then took off, leaving the other component. Both components looked as if they fit nicely together. The engineers from before quickly returned and began welding the two parts together.

"Lieutenant, that looked an awful lot like something I saw in one of my brother's videogames last time I was on leave", one of the team members said.

Before Florence had a chance to respond, a dozen Pelican dropships appeared in the sky band landed near the hangars. Some carried troop compartments while others had vehicles attached to their backs. They dropped whatever vehicles they carried before setting down and unloading a multitude of Marines and other equipment. The members of the haz-team stared in awe and wonder while David just smiled to himself.

**

* * *

**

April 29, 2009

**location: Earth orbit- UNSC _Spirit of Fire_**

For the first time since arriving, the _Spirit of Fire_ sat in orbit in plain view; its stealth device having been deactivated to launch its remaining pods. The ship hadn't seen this much activity since the battle of Arcadia, and was likely going into a battle several times greater than that one. For the defense of Area 51, the majority of the ship's surviving 850 Marines were heading planetside along with most of the motor pool and aircraft. Kyle, now wearing his MJOLNIR armor was supervising the loading of heavy munitions and vehicles. Even though the _Spirit_ had expended much of its equipment and manpower in the three battles it had underwent previously, she still had enough left over to pack a punch.

"Its not going to be enough" Kyle said to no one in particular.

"We at least have to try" the Master Chief said from behind Kyle.

"I thought you went down to the surface already?" Kyle asked.

"I'm going down with the rest of you, figured we didn't want to overwhelm the native soldiers any more then we already have" the Chief replied.

"Good point" Kyle said, "so why did you really stay behind?"

"I wanted to see how you were holding up, I mean with what happened to Kelly and all."

"I'm trying not to think about it" Kyle said.

"That's gotta be difficult" the Chief said, "you guys have been together for what, six years? And not to mention your kid."

"Rebbecca... how am I supposed to explain this to her" Kyle said to himself softly.

"I'm not sure this was the right time to bring that up, Chief," Cortana said to him over his armor's speakers.

"Look, I shouldn't have even mentioned her." The Chief started to say.

"No, its fine," Kyle said, "we have to remember who we're fighting for here."

"You're doing this for your daughter? But she isn't even here" the Chief said.

"I came to rescue Blue Team, so they'd still be available for whatever missions the UNSC needs Spartans for Kyle said, its a moot point now since we only found Linda, not to mention the Covenant threat. Either way, I have to fight the Covenant and defeat them so I can go home to her. Things just aren't going to be the same anymore though."

"I wonder if that monitor of yours is willing to go down and actually fight" the Chief said aloud.

"The monitor..." Kyle muttered, "I completely forgot, we're sitting on reinforcements."

"What are you talking about?" The Chief asked.

"The monitor brought a whole force of sentinels aboard, enough to maybe give us an edge" Kyle said, "the Captain ordered them powered down and held in a cargo bay. I'm sure we can get most of them up and running in no time."

Kyle left the Chief in the hangar bay and raced for the closest lift. Within minutes he was outside the observation deck/lab, however just as he entered, a red beam of energy shot by him and struck something on the other side of the room.

"Reclaimer! I did not see you there!" Flash exclaimed as he flew towards Kyle. Anders likewise was also coming over to him.

"I'm fine, but what the hell were you thinking, firing your weapon in a observation deck of all places," Kyle snapped at him.

"I asked him to do it, because we were testing that" Anders said pointing to something behind Kyle. He turned around and saw a machine placed in the corner of the room. It looked like a mishmash of UNSC and Forerunner components, however was protected by a shimmering energy field.

"What is that?" Kyle asked.

"A Forerunner generation two shield generator" the monitor replied. "My programing prevents me from giving a tier-3 civilization anything more advanced."

"Can we use this on the surface to shield Area 51?" Kyle asked.

"No, we could never expand the field and find a power source that can keep it stable under bombardment. Besides, we built it for a different purpose" Anders said.

"The _Spirit"_ Kyle said.

The biggest drawback of the war was UNSC ships relying only on their armor to protect against plasma weaponry, even after the war reversed engineered shields were rare among the fleet, only the newest cruisers had them. If the _Spirit_ now had shields, Forerunner ones at that, their their odds just went up significantly.

"Can you have that put in place before the Covenant show up?"

"We've already put the parameters into the computer and it'll be simple to interface with the ship's power systems" Anders said.

"Good, you need to be ready to head to the surface with the final group. Besides Halsey, you're the only other scientist on board who has experience handling alien ruins. We have no idea what they've got under Area 51" Kyle said to her. "Flash, how quickly can your sentinels be made operational?"

"Within minutes, for what purpose do you need them?" The monitor asked.

"Defense against the Covenant" Kyle said.

"I'll need to stay behind to install the generator I'm afraid" Anders said.

"I can easily leave a few support sentinels behind to oversee the operation of the generator" Flash said.

"I have a few prototype weapons I would like taken down as well" Anders said.

"Get them down to the hangar bay then, we're trying to get as much equipment as we can to the surface before the Covenant show up" Kyle said as he left the room. He was due out on the next Pelican in half an hour, and there was one more thing he needed to do before leaving. Kyle again used the lift to go to the medical wing, and met Doctor Halsey outside of a private room just as she was leaving it.

"I take it you want to see her?" Halsey asked.

Kyle nodded.

"There's a few things you should know" Halsey said, "I've managed to get her into speaking, looks like her language centers weren't damaged."

"Has she regained any of her memories?" Kyle asked.

"I'm sorry, Kyle, she hasn't" Halsey said. "I've been telling her about who she is... I haven't told her about the two of you yet."

"I see" Kyle said.

"I'll let you see her, but keep it brief, and under no circumstances do you tell her about the two of you. Her recovery is going to take a while, letting her know certain things could hamper her recovery" Halsey said.

Kyle nodded again.

"I'll see you on the hangar deck when you're finished" Halsey said as she left Kyle.

"Are you sure you want to see her like this?" Kalmiya asked Kyle.

"Yes, and no Kyle replied. "Even if she's lost all her memories, she's still Kelly to me."

--

Inside the room, Kelly stood staring out of the window that was in her private room. She would occasionally see a small ship heading for the planet below, and those small ships sparked a sense of familiarity along with the planet itself.

"Why can't I remember?" She said to herself.

It had been an interesting experience for her upon waking up, first there was the room she was in and the man who had been there. She also felt like she knew him. Next was discovering the fact she was completely naked and in a morgue of all places before being surrounded by security types and taken to this room. She could remember basic things, like what a morgue was, recognized she was in a hospital room, on a ship. She could remember the names of various weapons that the guards used. Just nothing on who she was.

Her talk with Halsey had been enlightening to say the least. She told Kelly what her name was, and she had been killed in some battle, then miraculously revived by the same man she'd seen in the morgue. She then explained that she was a soldier, a special one at that, one that had personally saved a lot of lives including Halsey's on multiple occasions. Halsey told her that her injuries that caused her death possibly also caused her memory loss, and that they might return in time.

The door to her room opened and Kelly stared in semi shock as someone in green armor came inside. Again she was struck with a sense of familiarity with the armor, but couldn't remember where she'd seen it or what it was even called. The armored person reached up and removed his helmet, it was the same man who she'd seen in the morgue.

"Hello Kelly" he said.

"Hi. I'm guessing you know me, right?"

"You could say that" Kyle replied.

"You're the guy from the morgue, the one who brought me back, guess I owe you one. And sorry for going all amnesia on you" Kelly said.

Kyle chuckled a bit, she sounded like her old self in that moment. "Its fine" he replied.

"Anyway, are you here to get me to remember some more too?" Kelly asked.

"No, I'm just here to check up on you" Kyle said.

"Well we must be good friends for you to go out of your way to look in on me, Halsey said some kind of battle is going to happen."

"A pretty big one, odds aren't on our side" Kyle said.

"Well Halsey said I was.. am a soldier. I'd help if I could" Kelly said.

"You can help me by staying right here where its safe" Kyle said.

"Someone's a little overprotective" Kelly commented.

"I look after everyone under my command, some more than others..." Kyle said.

"_Transport group 3, report to the hangar deck for embarkation"_ Serina said over the PA.

"I guess that's you, huh?" Kelly asked.

"Yeah, I have to go" Kyle said as he put his helmet back on.

"You know, you haven't told me your name yet" Kelly said as he reached the door.

"Its Kyle" he said before stepping into the hall.

"Well she seemed ok, and she seemed familiar with you. Maybe she is getting her memory back" Kalmiya said to Kyle as he walked for the nearest lift. Kalmiya knew that was a lie, her readout of Kyle's biomonitors told her that much.

"She's not in there" Kyle said.

**

* * *

**

April 30, 2009

**location: somewhere in the Nevada desert- Area 51**

The UNSC firebase had been positioned in between two taxiways that lead to the main runway of the base. Only three additions had been flown in from the _Spirit of Fire_, a landing pad and two barracks. The firebase was also protected by a quartet of defensive turrets. A Humvee rolled up to the front of the firebase and its passenger, Major Stevens got out. Alan let out a long whistle at the design of the prefab structure; its outer armor could probably withstand several shells from the nearby Abrams tanks. The firebase didn't seem to have a visible entrance and what appeared to be a ramp was blocked off by some kind of door. Alan was about to consider knocking on it when a smaller door near one of the protruding arms of the base opened up and a Marine stepped out.

"Major Stevens?" She asked him as she snapped off a salute. "Captain Stephanie Williams, acting CO 7th battalion, UNSC Marine Corps."

"At ease, Captain," Alan said as he returned the salute.

"Shall we go inside, we have to familiarize you with the UNSC firebase."

"Lead the way" Alan replied as he followed Williams inside the door she came out off. The small access corridor was cramped, but understandable since most of the firebase was armor. The corridor took them into the ramp and from there they walked the short distance to the interior of the firebase. Alan was astonished at what he was seeing, in just a few hours work the UNSC engineers had been able to excavate a much larger area underground and put proper support columns in place. This building made the firebases in Iraq look like a summer camp.

"This is the machine shop where our vehicles will be outfitted, we can even fly in hornets through the ceiling hatch" Williams explained. "This is actually the quickest configuration that can be made. Given time we can expand this quite a bit."

"Time is something that's not on our side here" Alan said, "this place has a command center, yes?"

Upper level Williams said as he led him over to a small elevator, barely big enough for the both of them. The lift moved slowly, but brought the two of them into a smaller corridor. They squeezed past an engineer trying to complete the connection between the two sections. They finally arrived in the command center which was a medium sized rectangular room with a holotable, plotting board and several overhead monitors. What looked like observation windows were obscured by armor plating. There was also a ladder off to the far side that presumably provided roof access.

"Sitrep" Williams ordered.

"Combat engineers report final touches to the base and defense perimeter completed within the hour. We're still waiting on the last transport group from the _Spirit of Fire,"_ a Sergeant manning one of the small stations reported.

"Very good, Sergeant" Williams said. "Well I'm not sure how much time I have to get you situated with your procedures and everything, but I'll try my best."

"What exactly happened to your original CO?" Alan asked her.

"Colonel Hamilton and Major Greer bit it back on parasite planet" Williams said.

"Parasite planet?"

"Sorry. Our name for the Dyson sphere we were at last before bumping into the _Razor's Edge. _It was infested with this parasite creature the _Edge's_ Marines called The Flood. Corny name if you ask me" Williams said.

"You said something about defenses?" Alan asked.

"Have a look" Williams said as she brought up a map of the base and surrounding area. To the north east of Area 51, Alan could see lines and symbols indicating trenches and pillboxes blocking the back access road into the base.

"We're setting up three lines of defense, one six miles out from the base, another three miles out, and the final defense line half a mile from the runways in between these two ridges Williams said as she pointed them out on the map."

"Makes sense, those farms in Rachel are is the only flat terrain that can be used as an LZ" Alan said. "Can you give me the specs on those pillboxes of yours."

"They're not exactly pillboxes" Williams said as she activated a 3D representation of the Cobra. "This is our main anti armor. When locked down they can serve as a hypervelocity artillery piece."

"We're gonna need to discuss the placement of US forces in your battleplan, Captain," Alan said.

"My plan has them at the second and third defense lines. Your people simply have no idea what we're facing, and only a few have probably even played any of those games you've got about us" Williams said.

"Captain, we're ready to come out of lockdown" a technician said.

"You'd better grab a hold" Williams said as she gestured to the bars that ran the length of the table. Alan grabbed hold and suddenly the whole room began to move backwards. The whole process took less than a minute as the room locked into place and stabilized. Next, the blast doors covering the windows came up and the control center was flooded by sunlight. Vehicles started entering the firebase through the main ramp.

"We're open for business" Williams said.

--

The two barracks that had been brought down had been up and running since the middle of the night, and were currently reconfigured to briefing halls. One held all of the pilots and vehicle operations of the US military contingent, while the other was briefing ground troops. David was in the second group to receive the briefing.

The briefing hall essentially had rows of benches facing the far side of the prefab structure where a large display was affixed. Three UNSC Marines and a UNSC naval officer led the briefing. Already they had been familiarized with the Covenant species they would face. Some of the soldiers in the room were muttering to others on whether or not this was some kind of an elaborate hoax.

"Now, we've run simulations, and your M249 machine guns are about the only weapon capable of penetrating the skin of a Brute, and that's only with armor piercing round and the use of the entire magazine" one of the Marines said.

"What about our rifles, they gotta have the power to punch through?" An Army platoon leader asked.

"In theory, but you'd never war down their shields enough with a small magazine. Underslung grenade launchers would help. If you try and take a brute with a rifle singlehandedly, you won't be walking away. Signal UNSC personnel if you can, they'll take care of them."

"What do we do about the hunters?" One of the more Halo fluent soldiers asked.

"Don't even try to attack them, call for UNSC support" the Marine responded.

"Its starting to sound like you want us to only handle those small aliens" another soldier pipped up.

"I ain't being on grunt cleanup duty!" a US Marine said.

"You people don't have any experience fighting the Covenant like we do" the Marine said.

"I don't know, I beat Halo 2 on legendary about 5 times, I'd say that makes me qualified" another soldier said.

"A videogame isn't the same as real life!" the Marine shot back.

"And you're asking us to take a backseat to defending out own soil!" That comment came from an Army Captain.

David knew this briefing wasn't going to end well, and some of the soldiers in the room already had full combat loads. They might try something if someone didn't speak up.

"Hey, listen to them!" David said, "I've seen these people fight for myself, and they could easily defeat our entire force here."

"Sounds like you're disrespecting your own outfit, buddy," a Marine from the same row David was in said to him. "LT, I've had enough of this BS, permission to bail?"

"Granted, in fact I'm ordering the platoon out" the Army Lieutenant said to his men.

"Belay that order, soldier! You are way out of line" the lieutenant's superior said.

"You know what, bite me, Captain!" An NCO said to the officer, and that's when the first fists were thrown. Before the fight could escalate however, a high pitched whistle brought everyone's attention to the front of the room. Standing next to the UNSC personnel was a 7 foot tall Spartan, decked out in MJOLNIR armor.

"All of you, listen up. I've fought the Covenant for years and I can tell you that if you guys want to man the first defense line, then the Covenant are going to easily roll over you. I've seen colonial militia put up a better fight then what you want to do" the Spartan said.

"You know what, you're probably just some far guy in a Styrofoam outfit who gets called out for conventions and that kind of shit, you're patheti..."

The soldier in the front row didn't get a chance to finish his comment as the Spartan easily wretched his M4 out of his hands, broke the weapon in half with his bare hands and tossed the broken halves at his feet. The US soldier didn't take kindly to this as he drew his sidearm and prepare to rush the Spartan when he was easily lifted off his feet by the Spartan and thrown backward into his friends, uninjured.

"A brute could easily match my strength if properly enraged, and his skin is think enough that shooting him would be the same as shooting me with your weapons. "I suggest you do as you're told and don't take on anything bigger than a jackal on your own."

With that, the Spartan left the room and joined two other Spartans waiting outside the barracks.

"You think you could have gone a little easy on him, Douglas?" Alice asked.

"They needed a wakeup call." Douglas replied.

"I think you took their whole world and turned it upside down" Jerome said, "but we should cut these guys some slack, its not every day a videogame comes to life for them."

"These guys are no different than militia who've only fought insurrectionists, they have no idea what's waiting for them," Douglas said.

**

* * *

**

April 30 2009

**location: Northern Canada- Air Force One **

Flying high above the Yukon territory was the president and most of his staff. Air Force One's sister plane was a hour behind them, carrying the remainder of the staff and boxes filled with important documents and various items from the White House that were deemed preserving. Those two airplanes represented the haste in which the government quickly but quietly evacuated Washington DC. Inside the small presidential office, the president stared out the window at one of the F-15s tasked with protecting the plane.

"Mr president?" A staff member said as he knocked on the open door. "We've received conformation that the Joint Chiefs, the cabinet and congress have been evacuated to their respective facilities. We also have General Denning on the line from NORAD."

"I'll take it in the conference room" the president said as he got out of his chair, but didn't grab his jacket as he walked the short distance through the airplane to the conference room. The president stood in front of the display mounted on the wall as General Denning's face appeared. Behind him was the control center for Cheyenne mountain, where NORAD had relocated to.

"_Mr president, our assets are in place at Area 51 and I'm told that final defensive preparations will be complete within the next three hours."_

"General, what exactly is our plan if the Covenant attack Earth directly?" The president asked.

_I assume you want the actual version, sir?_ Denning asked.

"Absolutely."

"_Realistically, sir, if the Covenant attack head on with their fleet the Air Force will not be able to stop them. If they follow the same pattern that they did in Halo they will begin an invasion of East Africa. Followed by sporadic attacks elsewhere with a smaller portion of their forces. If this happens we will not have enough time to war the general public of what's coming. We'll activate the EAS and advise people to get underground and mobilize the nation guard. We'll try an ICBM strike on any ships that are in the atmosphere in East Africa. Any ships that attack north America, we will not be able to bring down."_

"In other words we can't do a damned thing, and if they glass the planet?"

"_Not even your bunker will survive, sir. The mount McKinley facility may be deep, but the Covenant have been known to hit UNSC facilities that were deeper and more fortified," _Denning said.

"Which means our only hope is whatever is underneath Area 51" the president said.

"_Sir, regarding that. If the Covenant do break through and gain control of the complex, then I recommend we destroy the base. We have a B2 being loaded with a 400 kiloton tactical nuke that will take off the moment the Covenant arrive. If they break through and take the base, we'll drop it. We need your authorization to go ahead."_

"You have it" the president replied.

**

* * *

**

April 30, 2009

**location: somewhere in the Nevada desert- Area 51**

"_Pelican bravo 1, you are cleared to land at the UNSC firebase"_ the Air Force controller radioed to the oncoming Pelican. The Pelican set down on one of the landing pads behind the firebase, the other being occupied by an SKT-13 shuttle craft that had just finished offloading its supplies and was preparing to take off. The Pelican wasn't allowed to offload its passengers until the SKT-13 had lifted off the pad and it was clear. The robotic arm attached to the pad began lifting the crates on the pad to a conveyor that would then take them to a lift, and bring them to ground level.

The Pelican opened up and five Spartans plus Professor Anders and Doctor Halsey exited, descended the stairs next to the platform and were met by the three Spartans already on the ground.

"How's the orientation going?" Kyle asked Douglas.

"As well as can be expected, there was a small incident, but everyone's in line now" Douglas replied.

"How about our defenses?" Kyle asked.

"Should be just about finished, you'd have to talk to that Major they put in charge for specifics." Douglas said. "The Commander of the base said he wanted to see you when you landed."

"I imagine what this is going to be about" Kalmiya said as the group made its way to several waiting warthogs that transported them to a building on the far side of the base. The Spartans had all of their gear loaded onto the warthogs and took a few minutes to distribute it between them. From the outside the building appeared to be the base's main logistics center, only a couple of floors; the guards brought them to a fairly large door and ushered them inside Once they got inside they found themselves in a fairly large, concrete room, the outside of the building was just a mock up. Suddenly, the floor began to move down, it was an elevator. It descended about 25 feet before stopping; the group spun around to see several armed men, all with their weapons at the ready; there was even a machine gun emplacement.

"You have to surrender all of your weapons before proceeding any further" the lead guard said.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen" Kyle said as he instinctively went for the M7 on his thigh, his gauntlet resting over the gun.

"You're in my house, you play by my rules" the guard said.

"Sergeant, stand down!"

A man in an Air Force officer's uniform came out of the double doors.

"I'm sorry about that, security is tight here the officer said as he walked up to the Spartans. I'm Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell, commander of the base, and yes I've heard all the jokes before."

"What jokes?" Kyle asked him.

"I guess you don't watch Stargate then. Very well, come with me."

Mitchell led them through the doors and down a hall to a amphitheater and motioned for them to sit down; only Halsey and Anders did so, considering the Spartans' weight couldn't be supported by the chairs.

"First off, I have to reiterate that anything you see in this complex, including this briefing, are classified at the highest levels. Which means they don't officially exist, and you don't talk about them when you leave."

Mitchell went over to a nearby laptop that activated the projector in the back of the room. A 3D representation of Area 51 appeared and went to a ground cross section.

"As you can see, most of what goes on here is handled in the underground complex" Mitchell said as he pointed to the underground labs. "However as I'm sure you've been briefed on, the real reason Area 51 exists is this". A fuzzy, green outline of some kind of structure appeared underneath the base. "This is the best resolution we've been able to get of the complex."

"Can you tell us anything about its origins?"

"Only that its about 150,000 years old" the Colonel replied. "It was discovered during an survey for oil during the Second World War; a prospecting team found an undiscovered cave network under groom lake and after following it for several days, they found a metallic wall. Our facility is built inside the old caves. In 1968, we found what appeared to be a door. In 1983, the door opened and we sent a six man team inside."

The Colonel played an old video file of the team, in hazmat suits stepping through the threshold with flashlights and weapons at the ready. The clip cut to a helmet cam of one of the team members before it fuzzed out of existence.

"Radio signals couldn't penetrate outside of the complex, but the recon team continued their mission... until the door close ninety minutes after they went inside. We haven't heard anything from them since."

"Any idea why the door opened din the first place?" Anders asked.

"Our best scientists say it might have been a short in whatever mechanism controls the door. It hasn't opened once since 1983. Now that the history lesson is out of the way, its time to get to business. Our current plan is to use high explosives to force the door open so you can send your team in, you'll be accompanied by the Marine Haz-Team and elements of SEAL team 6."

"We go in alone" Kyle said, "there's no telling what's inside. Spartans are best suited for this mission."

"And this complex is property of the United States government. The president may have put you in charge of this field trip, but our people go in with you. They will follow your orders as if they came from the Commander in Chief himself, however anything you find down there is _our_ property, and if we give you the boot, you go."

"Fair enough" Kyle reluctantly said.

--

After the briefing concluded, the Colonel brought them through the research labs to another set of elevators. The scientists there were in a hurry to pack up all they could and get out on the EVAC flights that had started. The Spartans had to take the elevator two at a time due to the weight of their armor, in short it was almost twenty minutes before all of the Spartans were down. They walked a short distance to a metal blast door that the Colonel rose with a quick command code entered onto a nearby keypad.

The room was roughly rectangular, with the far wall taken up by the wall of the alien complex. It was a sickly green color and had signs of severe corrosion, however appeared to be study. Two small concrete bunkers were dug in in front of the wall along with sandbag emplacements manned by troops. A small section near the back appeared to be set up for research, the scientists there were packing up as well.

"The remaining team members are on their way down from the surface, along with the high explosives. When they arrive the demolition teams will place the explosives and we'll take cover inside the hallway" the Colonel explained.

"Too messy Kyle said. "Will, how many detpacks did you bring with you?"

"I thought three would be enough" Will said as he dropped the duffel containing the explosive packs.

"How powerful are these things?" Mitchell asked.

"One is significantly much more powerful than than all the explosives I bet you're planning to use" Kyle explained.

The Colonel went over to a phone near the science station while Kyle and Will each removed a detpack from the duffel and walked over to the wall. The detpack was basically a backpack loaded with C-12 in a specifically shaped charge. The backpack was resistant to small arms fire and equipped with magnetic clamps to allow it to be attached to any surface. Kyle and Will located the door creases and prepared to place the charges, when suddenly a previously unknown hatcher opened, and a green crystal emerged. Without warning it scanned Will and Kyle, focusing on Kyle more. The crystal disappeared back inside the structure before the rest of the Spartans and he guards had time to react. Suddenly, the room began to vibrate slightly as the ancient door once again opened to reveal a darkened corridor.

Immediately, Kyle and Will dropped their explosives and drew their weapons. Behind them, the heavy machine guns inside the bunkers and the smaller guns behind the sandbags were being prepped. The Spartans took up defensive positions beside the guards; even Colonel Mitchell drew his concealed sidearm. Flashlights and lasersights crisscrossed through the dark, alien corridor.

"This is Mitchell, I need those two teams and additional security down here, now!" He said into the phone at the science station. "Get me a reading on that thing!"

Several scientists grabbed equipment from nearby storage lockers and rushed to where Kyle and Will still stood.

"Radiation levels in the green."

"Air inside is oxygen, nitrogen, a lot of CO2 and trace amounts of methane."

"We could have told you that" Kyle said.

Colonel Mitchell walked up to join Will and Kyle at the entrance.

"Why would this structure react to your presence like that?" He asked.

"I've got a feeling why, but it doesn't make sense."

--

A half hour later the remaining team members arrived and Kyle was introduced to Lieutenant Florence of the Haz-Team and Commander Madison of SEAL team 6. It was agreed to split the Spartans and Doctors Halsey and Anders between the SEALs and Marines. Kyle, Cassandra, Will, Linda and Anders would accompany the Haz-Team while the rest would go with the SEALs. A few minutes later the group set out very cautiously, Spartans on point. The corridor were dark and after a while it came to a T junction, it was there that they would split up. Kyle's team took the left corridor while Captain Madison's team took the right.

"Boss, rad counter is starting to fluctuate, still safe levels" Corporal Grimm said to Florence.

"You picking that up?" he asked the Spartan closest to him.

"Yes, and this is looking eerily familiar" Will replied to Florence.

Kyle ordered a stop and had Anders inspect one of the many support arches that were in the corridor. After a minute she nodded her head to Kyle.

"We have to contact the _Spirit_ ASAP" he said. "Linda, break out the COM relay, lets see if we can punch a signal through."

"Why do we need to contact your ship?" Florence asked, "we can't waste time, we need to secure this complex."

"This complex, is Forerunner. From the crystal that was in the door to the arches, everything is Forerunner architecture. Now why a Forerunner complex is here, on an Earth that made up everything the Forerunners are, needs to be figured out before the Covenant arrive. I can't hold off on reporting this, but if you want to explore then go right ahead, this is _your _complex after all" Kyle said.

Florence wasn't to happy with Kyle's attitude, but wasn't in a position to disagree either. He ordered corporals Grimm and Parker along with Sergeant Patrick (essentially half his team) to continue searching; Kyle also sent Cassandra with them. They continued down the dark corridor until they spotted a small source of light emanating out of a shaft of some kind. Cassandra popped one of her glow sticks and dropped it down the shaft, the stick was barley visible from where it landed. The light was coming from one level below them.

"El-tee, we've got a shaft that leads to the other levels of the complex. There are lights on one level below us, permission to investigate?" Grimm asked over the radio.

"_Granted. I'll contact the SEALs and have them reroute reinforcements over here to back you up"_ Florence replied.

"Ok, break out the climbing gear" Sergeant Patrick ordered.

As the Marines were setting up, Cassandra walked to the edge of the shaft, did a quick calculation in her head and jumped into it. With her quick reflexes she reached out with her left arm and caught the ledge of the level below and stopped herself from falling all the way down. She quickly climbed up and into the second level; the lights were indeed on. She looked back up the shaft to see the three Marines looking down, wondering where she had disappeared to.

"You gonna gawk or are you coming down?" She asked them.

The Marines finished with their climbing gear and Grimm and parker rappelled down to the second level first. Sergeant Patrick left a glow stick in front of the level one access to tell friendly forces where they were going. As he was making his descent, Grimm and Parker began exploring the new level they were on.

"Hey, check this out" Parker said to Grimm as he pointed to a boxy devise attached to his M249. He flipped it open to reveal a small LCD display that would show a semicircular pulse every few seconds.

"What is it?" Grimm asked.

"New toy out of R&D. The el-tee got us permission to test them, supposed to be able to detect someone's heartbeat." Check it out.

Parker handed Grimm his weapon and Grimm pointed it in Parker's direction, sure enough when the pulse was emitted across the screen, a pulsing smudge appeared in the general direction of Parker.

"Reminds me about that thing from Aliens" Grimm said as he handed the weapon back to Parker.

"Damn, its got a bug already. Parker said as he slapped the tiny display, "its saying there's two people in close proximity ahead of us."

"Its probably just reading the Sergeant and that Spartan lady" Grimm said.

"No, watch" Parker said as he pointed the weapon back the way they came and the sensor registered a single heartbeat. Cassandra's didn't show up due to her MJOLNIR armor.

"You don't think..." Parker said before he and Grimm pointed their weapons down the corridor.

"Sarge, you better get up here" Grimm said into his radio as they advanced forward .

--

"_Say again?"_

"There are two humans in the next corridor" Wighen replied to Fred. "I do not recognize their weapons. And their clothing is unlike anything I've seen your UNSC use."

Back in the control room, Fred and Lucy looked at one another before saying "insurrectionists" at the same time.

"Wighen, those guys are rebels or pirates. Either way, don't engage them" Fred said.

Wighen had retreated further down the corridor so as not to be heard by the humans he observed playing with their weapons.

"I will make my way back to you" the Sangheili replied. However he neglected to double check his motion tracker and didn't see the two humans until they rounded the corner and had their flashlights trained on them.

"Freeze!" One of them cried before looks of shock played across their faces. Wighen seized the opportunity and fired his plasma rifle at their feet, giving him the opportunity to escape down the hall, easily outrunning them.

--

"Shit!" Grimm cried as he dove out of the way of the plasma bolts that struck right in front of where he was standing. Parker fired off his weapon, but the alien was out of sight.

"This is Corporal Grimm, we have a hostile alien on the loose on level two. We are in pursuit, requesting backup!"

Grimm and parker set out after the alien.

--

"Linda, Anders, stay here and get that relay up. The rest of you, with me" Kyle ordered as soon as they heard Corporal Grimm's message.

They raced down the corridor and found Sergeant Patrick's glow stick in front of the access shaft. It took several minutes for the Spartans and three Marines to get down to the next level. Sergeant Patrick and Cassandra were guarding both sides of the corridor.

"You both stay here in case the alien decides to double back" Florence ordered. "Stevens bring up the rear, everyone else, follow the big guy.

Kyle nodded and led the group down the hall in pursuit of Grimm and Parker. The two Marines had been kind enough to leave a glow stick at the ambush sight to tell friendly forces where to go.

"Omega-one to Red-one. Make your way to the second level. A pair of Marines made contact with a hostile."

"_We're already there"_ Douglas replied over the COM.

--

Douglas and his group had already found another access tube and used it to reach the second level. They had heard Grimm's radio call and had also set out to either rendezvous with them or cut off the alien. They left Maria and the Master Chief with Halsey and set out. Douglas' thermals had picked up a large concentration not too far ahead. Red Team decided to split up from the SEALs and take a different route. Little did both sides know, Lucy was waiting to ambush the SEALs as they got closer, believing they were rebels. As one of the SEALs came around the corner to the corridor that lead to the control room, Lucy opened fire with her SMG and sent the SEAL retreating. Commander Madison assumed it was the other team and yelled the hostile challenge codeword.

"Star!"

He leaned his head around the corner and was met by another hail of SMG fire.

"Why aren't they saying Texas?" One SEAL asked.

"No clue. We're doing this the hard way, flash and clear!"

Madison removed a flashbang grenade from his belt and tossed it down the corridor. It detonated a second later and filled the corridor with blinding light. The SEALs rushed in a second later to find it empty.

--

"I think I only slowed them down" Lucy said as she returned. Fred tossed her an assault rifle with half a clip, since she had expended the last of her SMG ammo holding off the rebels down the hall.

"Wighen's gonna try and and lure them down towards the medical bay" Fred told her as he readied his own weapon.

Less than a minute later Commander Madison and his SEALs arrived at the control room. The SEALs seemed shocked at first as they lowered their weapons at the sight of the Spartans.

"Why didn't you use your countersign back there!?" Madison snapped.

The initial confusion lasted only a moment as Commander Madison saw one of the people in the room was wearing a completely unfamiliar white armor, and another Spartan was collapsed on the floor. Immediately, the seven Navy SEALs and three Spartans pointed their weapons at each other.

"Unit one to unit two, we have a situation here" Madison said into his radio.

"You wanna keep breathing, no more radio" Fred said to him.

"So why are your people doing this, you want this complex for yourself, right?" Madison asked him.

"I have no idea what you're talking about" Fred said, "but I'd prefer this complex remain out of rebel hands."

Rebels? Well I don't think we've been called that in over 200 years Madison replied.

"Why's this guy so cryptic?" Lucy asked over a private COM.

Suddenly, someone Fred long believed to be dead joined the SEALs at the entrance to the control room. The armor, the IFF, there was no mistaking that Douglas was standing right in front of him. A thought entered Fred's head at that moment, the ship he was on had disappeared without a trace, one theory ONI had postulated was that the ship defected to the forces of the URF, and that theory was looking rather likely.

"Fred, how did you get here?" Douglas asked his former team CO.

"Could ask you the same question. So why'd you defect to the rebels?" Fred asked.

"Rebels? These guys?" Douglas said. "Obviously no one's told you what's going on."

--

Grimm and Parker had been chasing Wighen for close to ten minutes when Parker's heartbeat sensor finally overheated and died.

"R&D can't get anything right" Parker hissed as he slapped the tiny device in an attempt to get it working again. From behind them, Kyle's group had finally arrived and immediately fanned out along the corridor.

"Where's the hostile?" Florence asked.

"We were tracking it when Parker's sensor cut out" Grimm reported.

"Where was it heading?" Kyle asked.

From above them, no one saw the cloaked elite drop down and grab a hold of David who was holding their six. The next thing David knew, and actual elite had him in a choke hold and had a plasma blade placed near his head.

"None of you will move, or I shall..." Wighen stopped when he saw Kyle and Will with the Marines.

"Let him go" Kyle said sternly.

"Why have you joined your own rebels, Spartan?" Wighen asked.

Kyle recognized the blade Wighen was using as those crafted by Taloar's people, based off of the combat knife design they got from Shane. The elite was also wearing the armor of Taloar's sect; it took Kyle less than a second to realize who this elite was.

"Your father's Taloar, right?" Kyle asked.

"That is correct" Wighen said, while still keeping a tight grip on David.

"Your father's in orbit, on his ship," Kyle said, "we came to rescue you."

"Then who are these?" Wighen asked, gesturing to David and the rest of the Marines.

"The... natives of this world. I don't have time to explain everything right now. You just have to trust me" Kyle said. "I'm Kyle, I'm sure your father has told you about me.

"If you are who you say you are, then Fred will want to meet with you" Wighen said.

"He's with you?" Kyle asked, "what about the others?"

"We have three others in our company. We lost another Spartan and your Doctor Halsey before we arrived here" Wighen said.

"They're alive and can confirm everything I've told you. Now are you going to let him go?" Kyle asked.

Wighen deactivated his plasma blade and let David go, who quickly ran over to Kyle and brought his weapon up at Wighen only to have Kyle push it down.

"Save the anger for the Covenant, he was just defending himself" Kyle said to his brother.

"I will lead you to them" Wighen said as he took point, to the satisfaction of David and the rest of the Marines.

--

By the time the group arrived at the control room, things were getting out of hand. Douglas hadn't been the best choice to try and talk Fred down and the SEALs were getting anxious with the super soldiers. Kyle and his group saw the stand off and only he and Wighen proceeded in. Kyle left ordered to either get Linda or Halsey down here in case the situation got worse.

"Kyle!? You're retired, and what's with the promotion?" Fred said when Kyle stepped into view.

"Its a very long story, short version is I was brought back to rescue you guys" Kyle said to him.

"Then who are these guys, and where did you find Douglas?" Fred asked.

"You're on Earth, my Earth to be precise. We've found Linda and Doctor Halsey, they're here in this facility with us" Kyle said.

Fred finally decided to lower his weapon along with Lucy and Shane. The SEALs in turn lowered theirs.

"You need to get a medic down here immediately" Fred said, "its Tom, he's hurt bad."

As they waited, Kyle caught Fred up to speed on what had happened back in the Halo universe and Kyle's Earth. Fred in turn told them about how his group had been trapped in the caves underneath Area 51 all this time, and eventually stumbling across the Forerunner complex.

"If you're right, that the Covenant is coming here because of this place. I think I know why" Fred said as he lead Kyle over to one of the control room's walls. Fred nodded to Shane who pressed the same control he had before and the wall once again became transparent, showing Kyle the collection of combat sentinel parts.

"We might just have a chance" Kyle said.

"A chance? We could obliterate the Covenant fleet the moment they exit slipspace" Kalmiya said.

"If we can figure out how to work them" Fred said. "What I don't get is how a Forerunner facility got here, a universe where everything the Forerunners are is a work of fiction."

"I don't know either, but I know someone who might."

--

Several hours later the sun had risen over the Nevada desert and the temperature slowly began to climb. In the skies above Area 51, a collection of small dots streaked across the sky heading for the base. At their head was a small sphere with a single glowing blue eye. The base went on alert when the monitor and his sentinels arrived, believing they were the Covenant. Once they were in visual range, the situation quickly defused. Naturally, anyone who had played Halo was a bit on edge with the presence of so many sentinels, however the larger ones merely joined the UNSC Vultures on the south side of the base. Some of the smaller ones followed the monitor into the underground portion of Area 51 and into the Forerunner complex. Around the same time, a C-130 landed on the Area 51 tarmac. Several Air Force doctors carrying a medical pod came out first, followed by Marlyn Stevens. Kyle was there to meet them as the doctors brought the pod down. Inside was Marc, Kyle's cousin who had inadvertently fallen into a coma after Kyle's little mind meld. He was loaded onto a Humvee that would take him underground; Kyle's mother walked over to her son.

"Why exactly did you want to bring Marc here of all places?" Marlyn asked her son.

"Mom, there's a complex buried about four hundred feet under this base, its Forerunner. How did it get here?" Kyle asked.

"That's impossible" Marlyn said, "we never sent anyone to a parallel universe, let alone an entire complex."

"I've been there, I've seen it, its real. Are you sure you didn't know about this?" Kyle asked her.

"You saw my memories, I'm as shocked and confused about this as you are" Marlyn replied.

"In your memories, wasn't Autonomous Flash the one who programed the crystal you used to escape?" Kyle asked.

"Are you suggesting he could have known?" Marlyn asked him.

"At this point, just about anythings possible" Kyle said.

--

Inside the Forerunner complex, the SEALs had located the medical bay and Tom was brought down there to be treated by a UNSC medic who'd come down from the surface. They placed the Spartan on one of the six beds attached to the wall in the medical wing, and tried their best not to accidentally turn on any of the equipment. The medic finished giving Tom drugs to try and fight off the infection and went over to Fred who was standing near by with Shane, Wighen and Lucy. The Marine Haz-team watched from the other side of the room.

"Whatever infected the broken leg must have been native to the planet you were last on. Might have gotten past the air filters in your armor and when the broke bone puncture the skin it went for the wound and spread like wildfire, that would also explain why your antibiotic shots weren't working."

"But you can stop it, make him better, right?" Lucy asked.

"If we got him to a hospital, and I mean a UNSC one. The _Spirit of Fire_ is the best idea, but I'm not too sure about moving him at this point. I can stop the infection from spreading with what I've got, but he needs to get to a hospital to save the leg; I haven't seen a break this bad in years."

Fred could tell Lucy wasn't to happy about this, she decided to hold vigil at Tom's side until the medic could come up with a solution to stabilize Tom so he could be moved to have surgery. Suddenly, several people carrying a red pod with Air Force logos on it stepped in and went over to one of the unused beds. They opened the pod and took positions on either side.

"On three, one, two..."

They lifted the occupant of the pod, a teenage boy, onto one of the beds. One of the group removed some portable heart monitoring equipment and hooked the boy up to it.

"Pulse is stable" she said.

Apparently the boy had caught the attention of one of the Haz-team Marines because he walked over to the bed for a closer look. At the same moment, Kyle entered with a woman Fred wasn't familiar with.

"Mom!? What the hell is going on here?" The Marine said.

"Nobody told me you were here, David" Marlyn said, "your father's probably here too, right?"

"On the surface, mom" Kyle replied.

"Thanks, that makes me feel much more at ease knowing my two sons and husband are in harms way" Marlyn said sarcastically.

"_This woman is Kyle's mother? That means he's related to that Marine"_ Fred thought to himself.

"Why exactly did you want to bring Marc here?" Marlyn asked Kyle.

"I thought you could use the equipment here to help him" Kyle said, "its got to be ten times more advanced then what we have."

Marlyn let out a sigh before saying, "I can try."

She walked over to the bed where Marc was on and motioned for the doctors to go away. She waved her hand over the wall above the bed and a scanning crystal appeared. It scanned Marc's head and a moment later a 3D map of his brain appeared suspended over his body.

"How the hell is she doing that?" David asked.

"Agreed, how does she know so much about Forerunner tech?" Fred asked.

"That's because... she is one" Kyle told them.

"A Forerunner?" David said. "Ok, that's it. Whatever cruel joke this is, needs to stop."

"Keep your cool, Marine" Lieutenant Florence said. I have no idea what's up with your family issues, but you are definitely not dreaming here. I need you to keep a cool head because the threat is real". He said to Kyle. "I'm taking my team back to the surface".

Kyle didn't say anything as David and the rest of his team left the medical bay. However Wighen was know on his knees in front of Kyle.

"You truly are a child of the Forerunners" Wighen said.

"No, you don't need to do that" Kyle said as he helped Wighen back on his feet, "I'm not a god or some divine being, just a soldier. And my mother's just a person. We're not your divine answer."

"You cannot force me to forget my beliefs that easily. The Forerunners I know are not true gods, but the most gifted race ever to walk the stars. Why shouldn't you be worthy of our appreciation?" Wighen said.

"Hey, not everyone in my race was perfect. We did wipe out all life in the Milky Way after all," Marlyn said.

"We can discuss religious interpretations at a later time, after the Covenant are gone" Fred said.

**

* * *

**

April 30, 2009

**location: Earth orbit, UNSC _Spirit of Fire_**

"Pelican away" Serina reported.

Cutter watched the dropship head for Earth as she spirit prepared to de-orbit on a course for the moon. Their plan was to hide there under cloak until the Covenant fleet arrived, then in conjunction with the _Light of Truth_, attack the fleet from the rear. However before the ship could leave, the proximity alarms went off.

"Enemy ships detected, fifteen Covenant vessels and one large unidentified target holding position near the moon" Serina said.

Cutter walked over to the plotting board and Serina displayed their positions near the moon. The fifteen ships had formed a defensive perimeter around the larger station.

"Looks like they beat us to the moon" Cutter said, "what are they doing?"

"They appear to be settling into a lunar orbit" Serina said.

"Not approaching the planet? Doesn't sound like the Covenant" Cutter said.

"They might not want to risk damaging the Forerunner complex" Serina said, "however they do intend to take it."

Serina magnified several smaller craft leaving the fleet on a direct course for Earth.

"Multiple dropships, three heavy transports and an assortment of seraph fighters Serina reported. "Our weapons could destroy them with ease."

"We'll loose the element of surprise that way" Cutter said, "it'll be up to the ground forces on this one. Signal the firebase; they have incoming."

**

* * *

**

April 30, 2009

**location: somewhere in the Nevada desert- Forerunner complex under Area 51**

"Nanites?"

That's how all of our medicine was carried out. Sure we still kept drugs and other medicines around, but most healthcare was carried out by nanites Marlyn explained to Kyle as she loaded a hypodermic vial with a batch of the tiny machines. Marc has several fried neurons in his brain, a result of his brain trying to process all the memories that you gave him. The nanites can study some of the live neurons, clone replacement cells and replace the dead ones.

"Is he going to have any memory loss?" Kyle asked.

"Sadly no, the memories you gave him will stay, however the nanites can rewire his neural pathways so he can better manage them" Marlyn said as she placed the vial against Marc's neck and injected the machines into his body. "How did you manage to get him out of the hospital he was in anyway?"

"You can thank General Denning, he made a few calls to the CDC and they managed to get a hold of him, said it was a nasty strain of H1N1 that put him in a coma. Denning says with all the hype about that disease, the hospital was quick to turn him over to the Air Force."

"All this H1N1 hype will probably burn itself out by the new year," Marlyn said.

"If you can use those robots to fix the kid, can you save Tom?" Lucy asked from Tom's bedside.

Marlyn walked over and repeated the same scanning process she used on Marc.

"Its a bad break, but nothing we can't handle" Marlyn said as she went to prepare another batch of nanites.

"_Omega-one, Linda, we just got a message from the surface, they're here."_

"Copy that" Kyle replied over the COM, "mom, better make it fast, we need every Spartan in the fight."

--

It awoke from its long slumber, cold and hungry. For the first time in many years, there was food nearby. The few that had come all those years ago had nourished the hunger and allowed it to slumber for many years more. These new arrivals awoke it from that slumber, and with its awakening, the hunger returned as well. It had learned from the minds of the few that came before; there was a whole world capable of nourishing it for many, many years. Soon, it would have the strength and numbers to leave this place... and unleash a flood on the world above.


	25. Chapter 24: stand, part 2

**Message from the general: **see, told you I'd get you guys an update before May was out. This one toped off at 28 pages so I hope it was worth the ridiculously long wait.

**Northern_megas- **I did actually look up modern weapons that used 7.62mm rounds. However the SCAR-H was just being issued to the armed forces in April of 09, and the SCAR-H's magazine only holds thirty rounds, not really enough to handle a Brute. The M60 also has a number of issues with it, not the least of which is that it jams easily if you get sand in it; only the Navy actually uses it. Despite the problems, don't be surprised if they show up this chapter.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**chapter 24: stand, part 2**

**April 30, 2009**

**location: somewhere over the Nevada desert- Pelican dropship**

_Pelican 39, break and engage evasive. Hostiles on your six _

"Copy that. Everyone hang on back there!" The pilot cried as she poured on the speed and began erratic maneuvering. In the passenger compartment, Kelly wondered what was going on as the flight engineer told her to grab one of the support bars on her seat. Kelly was suddenly jerked sideways as the pilot banked left and began a step descent. The pilot was going to perform a high speed VTOL landing otherwise known as a Splat Landing, since that's how the dropships usually ended up. Thankfully, the pilot managed to find an open area near the firebase and hangars to conduct the landing. There was a groaning sound as the pilot used every breaking maneuver she'd ever been taught to slow the dropship down. With a loud thud and the sound of groaning metal, the Pelican kissed the Earth. The flight engineer checked on Kelly before grabbing a case from under one of the seats and popping the hatch. Kelly unbuckled her harness and followed him out.

"Take this" he said as he handed her the case and flagged down a US serviceman.

"Make sure she and the case get underground" he said as he ran back to the Pelican, the pilot doing a rushed preflight.

"Ok, come with me" the soldier said as he grabbed Kelly's free hand and lead her over to his Humvee. Just as they reached the vehicle, a siren began to blare and the people on the ground began to scatter.

"Shit, it really is happening!" The serviceman said as he climbed into the driver's seat of the Humvee. Just as Kelly was about to get in the passenger's side, several objects came streaking out of the sky. Three were very large and were surrounded by dozens of smaller craft; each somewhat familiar to her. Strangely, they didn't come near the base but flew just to the west of it, heading north and descending fast. They eventually passed out of sight behind some low mountains.

"Holly shit, they're real!" her driver stated as he started his vehicle.

"Hey, get a grip, right now you need to get me where I need to go."

"ok, ok, sorry, its just not everyday you get attacked by aliens that shouldn't even exist," the serviceman said as he put the Humvee into drive and sped off for the interior of the base.

* * *

"Here they come!" A technician in the firebase's ops center said as he patched the scanner feed into the main holotable for Major Stevens and Captain Williams. The Covenant craft were descending fast, and their trajectory was right for the base.

"Sound the alarm" Alan ordered.

Sirens began to blare outside as the soldiers either ran for cover or raised weapons, prepared to face the invaders. The four defense turrets around the firebase turned skywards, and the missile pods attached to the sides of the turrets activated. Around the base, AA guns were also turned on, automated SAMs and shoulder mounted launchers were also readied.

"Signal Creech air base and tell them to launch their airwing" Alan ordered, "and get me a line to General Denning."

"Major, look!" Captain Williams said as she pointed to the holograms. The Covenant force flew over the mountains to the west of the base and continued to the north on a landing trajectory. At the same moment, General Denning appeared on one of the overhead screens.

"Sir, the Covenant force is landing just outside the town of Rachel, Nevada, about 15 miles north of the base" Alan said.

"_I trust its already been evacuated?"_ Denning asked.

"It and every other town within a fifty mile radius was evacuated by the National Guard overnight. They're maintaining the perimeter at fifty miles out" Alan reported.

"_Very good, I'll contact Admiral Mullen and tell him we are a go. I'll signal the A-10s to attack."_

"Yes, sir" Alan replied as the screen deactivated.

"What are you doing?" Williams asked.

"Carrying out the Joint Chiefs orders" Alan said, "we're taking out their landing site with a combined missile and air attack."

"That is a big mistake" Williams said. "The Covenant will have brought shield generators to protect themselves while they assemble, its their SOP in a ground invasion."

"We have no way of confirming that" Alan said.

"Look, I know you have no reason to trust what I say. Its true that I only fought the Covenant for five years instead of thirty and they rarely invaded a world. Believe me you're not the first to try this sort of thing."

"The military is finding it hard enough to put our defense in your hands" Alan said, "we have to try. Even if I wanted to stop it, its too late."

About 300 miles of the coast of California, a submarine moved close surface and after making sure there were no craft in visual range it opened its VLS tubes. Six Tomahawk cruise missiles left the tubes and broke the surface of the water before their engines kicked in, propelling the missiles towards their targets. At the same time, a flight of ten A-10 attack aircraft flew in low over northern Nevada, waiting for their signal to strike. The plan was to have the fighters hit the Covenant camp just as the Navy's missiles struck. The fighters carried an assortment of air to surface missiles and guided heavy munitions.

"_Striker 1, this is Dreamland ATC. Arm all weapons. Missiles strike in sixty seconds."_

"This is striker 1, copy," the pilot of the lead plane replied.

All seven planes armed their weapons and prepared to launch them. The fighters crested over the last hill and came into view of Rachel, Nevada, and the staging sight. The three heavy transports were hovering over a few desert farms; gathered underneath them were the remaining dropships, banshees and seraph fighters. The three large transports began to move closer to the ground and a purple light began shining from their bellies. At the same moment, the six missiles were detected on radar by the A-10s.

"All planes, fire at your assigned targets... mark!"

The A-10s let loose a volley of everything from sub fragmenting munitions pods to laser guided missiles. They impacted at almost the same time as the cruise missiles, however the plumes of fire appeared above the Covenant force, not on it.

"What the hell just happened!" The lead pilot said. A half sphere of what appeared to be transparent purple hexagons appeared over the Covenant at the last second, absorbing all of the weapons fire.

"All planes, break off, now, now, now!"

As the A-10s veered away, several seraph fighters left he shield in pursuit of the retreating jets. The A-10s began evasive maneuvers to try and shake the pursuing fighters, to no avail. Purple jets of plasma struck three unlucky raft, the reinforced cockpit on one of the planes providing little protection as a lucky plasma strike completely vaporized the front section of one of the jets, the other two sustaining other crippling hits as their pilots tried to eject. In the end, two more A-10s suffered the same fate as the highly advanced seraphs made easy work of the 21st century aircraft; less than half the strike force survived.

From the ops center back at Area 51, Major Stevens and Captain Williams watched the carnage on the holotable as the two surviving attack planes retreat to the north and to their base in Idaho.

"I hope you don't plan on implementing plan B" Williams said to him.

**

* * *

**

April 30, 2009

**location: Earth orbit- Covenant mobile starbase _Unyielding Apocalypse _**

The prophet watched his own display and saw the pathetic attempt of the human fighters and long range missiles to eliminate his ground force. The humans of his time, or UNSC, how he despised using that name, put up better fights. Of course the prophet was only witness to the last three years of the war, however for the humans those last three years saw some of the bloodiest and desperate battles of the humans as the Covenant slowly approached their home system. Now he was here, over a practically defenseless Earth.

"_Holy prophet"_ the commanding Jiralhanae of the ground forces said as his small image appeared in place of the battle the prophet was just viewing.

"What do you have to report?" He asked the Jiralhanae.

"_Our forces were not damaged, and most of the primitive fighters were destroyed. However they are not our main concern."_

"These humans are more primitive than the ones we've faced, how can there be a problem in dealing with them!" The prophet said.

"During our initial landing, we flew over the relic site, there was a full military base with a substantial native presence, and..."

"Speak!" The prophet commanded.

"_The humans of our time, one of their bases and many of their weapons were on the surface as well!"_

"Blasphemy! We posses the only holy time relic" the prophet barked at the holographic image. The prophet was preparing to issue orders when he felt a cold presence enter the room and he turned the holoprojector off.

"If the humans have garrisoned their forces over the relic site this means they know what it is and what it can do" said a voice from the shadows.

"You don't think I realize this!" The prophet yelled back.

"Whatever your plan is, you'd best implement it" the voice said, "or it may become necessary for me to take control of the situation."

"You do not control me or this Covenant!" The prophet spat, "I have my doubts as to your so called power over us, and I will gladly see you thrown into the void of space if you question me again."

"Tread carefully with those words" the voice said before retreating out of the room, and leaving the prophet alone. The San-Shyuum returned to the holoprojector and reestablished communications with the Jiralhanae commander on the surface.

"You will hold position until instructed; monitor our frequencies, should they decide to reject my offer that will be the signal to attack," the prophet instructed.

**

* * *

**

April 30, 2009

**location: somewhere in the Nevada desert- Forerunner complex**

Kyle and his mother entered the control center where Linda, Maria, Cassandra, Halsey and Anders were hard at work deciphering the operating system of the computer. Shane was there as well, splitting his time between the to scientists who were not working in tandem.

"Report?" Kyle asked.

"We've deciphered life support controls, lighting and the communications system." Halsey said.

"And I think I've accessed the base's logs" Anders said.

"Let me take a look" Marlyn said as she stood next to Anders' station and manipulated the holographic controls. A line of text appeared in front of her head and she started to read it.

"This facility was indeed placed here from my home universe" Marlyn said, "apparently it was here to... that son of a bitch, this has his name written all over it!"

"You mind explaining?" Kyle asked.

"Arynn, my... colleague, according to the logs he and a select few constructed this facility in our home universe and brought it here using my crystal technology," Marlyn explained.

"But why though?" Halsey asked.

"They were studying live samples the Flood here" Marlyn said, we stopped all study of the Flood about one hundred years into the war, it was simply too dangerous to attempt. Arynn was willing to doom an entire alternate universe just to gain an edge against them.

"It doesn't matter, he's long dead and I'm guessing the security sentinels he left was his insurance policy against a Flood outbreak. Right now they're our only hope at stopping the Covenant Kyle said, can you get them working?"

"With my help, I believe we can" said the monitor as he floated into the room and toward the main console. His eye glowed for the briefest second as he synced with the main computer.

"This facility is currently operating on emergency power cells which are running the few systems you have managed to access. In order to operate the facilities combat systems, I will have to activate the main power source, a class 1 neutrino-ion reactor. With the amount of time this facility has remained dormant the process could take some time."

"Do it" Kyle said.

"Flash, all those years ago, you sent me here knowing this place was here. You helped Arynn," Marlyn said.

"I did as I was originally built to do, serve my creators. I saw no threat in sending you here because as of his last communique to the high command, Arynn stated that all research and specimens had been terminated and the facility abandoned. I sent you to this particular universe because this facility would have what you needed to ensure not only your survival but that of your people."

"Flash, have you ever considered that the Forerunners weren't worthy of survival?" Marlyn asked.

"No, such thoughts are beyond the range of my programing and fall into the confines of rampancy," flash replied.

"Flash, if there's one thing that living here has taught me is that the Forerunners were never meant for total transcendence over the universe. The Precursors told us that eventually our time would come and our name would be our legacy to future races. Maybe the precursors helped our people evolve so that in time, we might be the inspiration of future races."

"Are you suggesting these precursors gave your people access to advanced technology in the hopes that you'd build an empire, then suddenly go extinct?" Halsey asked.

"Its possible" Marlyn said, "hell, one of the doomsday theories passed around back home was that the Precursors invented the Flood. Naturally, no one listened with the war going on."

"I would enjoy the opportunity to discuss your people further..." Halsey started to say.

"You're completely missing the point," Marlyn interrupted, "if I gave you everything I know I'd be no better than the Precursors. Do you want your people to be some distant memory for future races to wage a holy war over? The Covenant is a prime example of why me people's legacy rests with me and only me. I'm the last Forerunner and after seeing what our legacy has done, I won't give anyone any information. This means after this battle, this base must be sealed once and for all. I'm sorry Doctor Halsey but you won't be getting your answers that easily."

"I'd ask you to reconsider, but I respect your decision enough and completely sympathize with it," Halsey said, "I wouldn't want the UNSC making any more Spartans if it was up to me. However another thing you should consider is the that sometimes the ends justify the means. What I did to the Spartans was wrong, I've accepted that, however where would humanity be without them? Dead? Enslaved by the Covenant while our homeworld burned? Banished to roam the stars? Your people's legacy founded the Covenant and brought about the deaths of countless billions, yes. However what you left behind, the Halos, The Ark, was the salvation that not only stopped an even greater threat, but brought us peace. Your people's legacy brought us peace."

"Not the way we would have approved of, doctor" Marlyn said.

"I'm sorry to interrupt such an wonderfully philosophical conversation, Lady Marlyn, however the surface base is contacting us. I'm patching them in through external communications," the monitor said before the far wall was take up by the images of General Denning and Major Stevens at their respective positions.

_"I see you've managed to get the alien complex under control, good work,"_ General Denning said, "_this couldn't have come at a better time, our initial strike against the enemy presence to the north has failed."_

"Why the hell would you go and do that!" Kyle said, "we've told you that the Covenant are light years ahead of us!"

"A_nd this is my country they've invaded!" _Denning said, "_give us one good reason why we shouldn't __defend it?"_

_"I think we can establish blame later"_ Alan interceded, "_right now, you both need to hear this. The Covenant just contacted Area 51 air traffic control and are demanding to speak to our leader."_

_"Is the transmission being broadcast in the open?"_ Denning asked, "_the last thing we need is CNN picking this up."_

_"No, it was directed at Area 51 specifically"_ Alan said, "_what are your orders?"_

_"Contact Air Force One, and I want you to route the transmission through as many secured satellites and landlines as you can to avoid it being traced; we don't want the president coming under fire," _Denning ordered

"Talking to them is a waste of time" Kyle said.

_"Right now their invasion force isn't moving and I bet this is the reason why"_ Denning said, "_we need to buy some time."_

**

* * *

**

April 30, 2009

**location: southern Alaska- Air Force One**

Are you absolutely sure about this, General? The president asked over the phone as he sat in his private office. The military advisors who'd accompanied him on the flight and his Chief of Staff had insisted on being present for the conversation, but the president felt he had to do this on his own.

_"Sir, we believe this is the only way to stall for time, every minute counts_," the General said.

"Very well, put him on" the president ordered.

He held the receiver close to his hear as he head a slight clicking sound before Denning said _"you're on with our leader"._

"This is the President of the United States, to whom am I speaking?"

_"I care not for your title,"_ the voice on the other end replied, "_as you have noticed, my fleet is in orbit of your world. You have a choice to make."_

"The United States does not negotiate with terrorists" the president replied.

_"And do you speak for every member of your species, human?" _The prophet asked in a rude tone, "_what I have to offer is for every inhabitant of this world."_

"...I'm listening" the president replied.

_"In exchange for two items of importance, I am prepared to offer your species entry into my holy Covenant."_

"Your Covenant is what exactly?" The president asked, pretending he didn't know, to keep the prophet talking.

_"It is a holy union of species created by the will of our gods"_ the prophet explained, "_all will be made clear to your people when you agree to join us."_

"Join, or be subjugated?" The president asked.

_"Obviously your species will not hold a higher place in our society for some time. It depends on your devotion to the great journey."_

"Lets just cut to the chase here, you're not here to offer us membership into your Covenant, you want something I have and your ships in orbit and the troops you have on the ground are your insurance to make sure you get what you want," the president said.

_"You are correct in your assessment, for a human you certainly are more wiser then the rest of your species,"_ the prophet said. "_My offer for membership still stands, however I would be willing to leave you and your people alone. In exchange I want access to the relic you have not far from my army, and the Forerunner living on this world."_

**

* * *

**

April 30, 2009

**location: somewhere in the Nevada desert- Forerunner complex**

"... _In exchange I want access to the relic you have not far from my army, and the Forerunner living on this world."_

Kyle listened to the last communique between the prophet and the president with shock. They somehow knew his mother was here, somehow their sensors could detect her, out of six billion humans the Covenant had found the one Forerunner living among them.

_"I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking..."_

_"Do not presume you can fool me with words, human!"_ The prophet barked, "_I can easily burn your world to glass and any response you muster will be feeble in comparison. I am offering your people salvation and their continued existence."_

"Can you break into this?" Kyle asked the monitor.

"I can establish full video and audio," the monitor replied.

"Cut the president off and put me on" Kyle said.

"Kyle, what are you..." Fred started to say before he and everyone in the room disappeared, in fact the control room itself disappeared. However hovering in front of Kyle was a San-Shyuum on his hover throne. He was bent over a Covenant console directly in front of him when he noticed Kyle.

"Demon!" He cried as he quickly hit a button and two pieces of what Kyle thought were the prophet's chair detached and unfolded themselves into a pair of miniature sentinels. Before Kyle had time to reach for his sidearm, the sentinels fired, their blasts passing through what Kyle now realized was his holographic body.

"It only makes sense for your kind to have followed us on our grand crusade" the prophet said when he realized Kyle was using a holographic communications system.

"I'm gonna give you one chance to surrender" Kyle said, "then, we're gonna kick your buddies off of Earth, then blow you out of the sky."

"Your threats amuse me, demon," the prophet replied, "if you had such capability you would have used it already.

"Who's to say we don't have an entire fleet out there?" Kyle said.

"Your race's intelligence" the prophet replied, "your people don't have the mastery of holy relics that I do. You couldn't have a brought a fleet of your pathetic ships through, no, I think you're one of the demons who fled the holy shipyard, trying in vein to prepare your ancestral homeworld for a storm that not even the people of your own time were able to repel. My forces will take what I want and we will burn your world, and everything you demons have done to fracture this Covenant will have been for nothing."

Kyle walked forward, eliciting a defensive posture from the prophet, and said;

"Try it".

Suddenly, the prophet and the Covenant ship dissolved and Kyle found himself back in the control room, the floor belief him giving off a residual glow as it slowly faded. Fred walked over to Kyle and spun him around to face him.

"What were you thinking, you probably just enticed him to attack!" Fred yelled.

"The president wasn't keeping him distracted, there was no way he could have bought us the time we needed. That prophet was going to attack regardless of what anyone said," Kyle replied.

"You should have run this by me" Fred said.

"I'm technically in command" Kyle said, "sorry, but the old days are over."

"Sorry, its still tough to get used to being the highest raking Spartan now" Fred said, "since we're in this mess for good, what are your orders?"

"We've got 12 Spartans, we'll break into teams. Fred, I want you to lead Red Team, I'm sure having you back in command might improve things with Douglas, being in command has changed him."

Fred felt reluctant to leave Blue Team, the team he headed for so long, but orders were orders and he'd heard about Douglas' behavior. Being out of the fight for almost thirty years isn't the best fate for a Spartan.

"I'll do what I can, who's gonna head up Blue?"

"I was hoping the Chief wanted the job" Kyle said. "Linda, you, Will, Tom and Lucy will be under his command."

Linda nodded in agreement.

"Casandra, that leaves you and Maria with me on Omega."

"Wouldn't have it any other way" Cassandra replied.

"Dido" Maria said.

"Fred, the rest of Red Team is topside, I want you on the front lines" Kyle said

"Understood, I'll meet up with them ASAP."

"Linda, Maria, I have an assignment for you both" Kyle said, "we need to soften up the Covenant."

"Leave the specifics to me" Linda said.

"Head topside with Fred then," Kyle ordered before tuning to the monitor. "Spark, how long will it take to get those combat sentinels working?"

"Their power source is the small neutrino-ion reactor, as I stated earlier it is off line. It will take time to build to necessary levels to power the sentinels and slipspace generator for sustained combat."

"How long?" Kyle asked again.

"With the amount of time the generator has remained dormant, indeterminable. Your authorization allows me to bypass startup safeties, that should decrease startup time considerably."

"Do it, I'm going to check in with everyone else in the infirmary. Fred, Linda, Maria, you have your orders. Halsey and Anders will stay here with the monitor and get everything up and running. Everyone else with me."

"Commander, wait" Anders said as she walked up to him, "I have a few projects I've been working on stored on the surface, I'd like to to supervise their use."

"Alright, head up with Fred then" Kyle ordered.

**

* * *

**

April 30, 2009

**location: Earth orbit- UNSC _Spirit of Fire_**

Captain Cutter was amazed by the sight in front of him. Just outside the viewport were the backsides of fifteen Covenant ships and a large space station. Only a month ago he would have considered this part of the mission suicidal. The Captain chuckled at the fact he was already considered dead by the UNSC, lost along with his ship on another suicidal mission that the UNSC wasn't even aware of. Now he was back in the same situation again, this time fighting for people he didn't even know.

"Captain, the _Light of Truth_ signals ready."

"Are you sure you have this timed correctly?" Cutter asked.

"Positive" Serina said, "on that note, we're ten seconds from execution."

The Captain walked over to his chair and keyed the intercom.

"All hands, stand by for ship to ship combat. Man your battlestations."

As soon as he was finished speaking, _Spirit of Fire _and the _Light of Truth_ shimmered into existence directly behind the Covenant fleet. Because they were not expecting an attack from a primitive planet, the ships in orbit didn't even bother to power their shields. They didn't see the two ships coming until the first magnetic accelerator round slammed into the engines of the trailing destroyer. The round passed through the main plasma reactor, destabilizing it as the round exited the ship and continued to accelerate away from the fleet. Plumes of fire erupted through the hole caused by the round as the reactor's magnetic field was unable to compensate for the damage and lost containment. More plumes of fire erupted through the hole the MAC round created, and then the hangars and windows of the Covenant destroyer before it was completely consumed.

The reaming escorts quickly established their shields and came about to face the two vessels. The _Light of Truth_ opened fire on the closest approaching vessel with their plasma weaponry, which thanks to years of Forerunner enhancements and some last minute upgrades courtesy of Cortana, were now enhanced to the point that two lances were sufficient to both collapse and inflict major damage in the first shot, and completely destroy the ship in the second blast.

"Two Covenant vessels destroyed" Serina reported.

"Take right through the center of their formation, max thrust" Cutter ordered.

The_ Spirit of Fire_ led the charge with the _Light of Truth_ following closely behind. The remaining thirteen Covenant ships were in formation by then, and had already opened fire; over twenty separate lances of plasma were racing towards the two ships. Had they attacked a day ago, the _Spirit_ would have surely been doomed. This wasn't the case as the _Spirit_'s high speed and Forerunner shielding easily protected the vessel from the weapons fire.

"Take us right down their throats, archer pods and gun batteries have weapons free" Cutter said.

The_ Spirit_ flew straight through the Covenant formation, her deck guns firing flack rounds into the space between them and the Covenant ships. Seraph fighters attempted to strafe the Spirit, to no avail as the shield absorbed the hits with ease. Those Covenant vessels closest to the _Spirit_ opened fire again with their plasma torpedoes and pulse lasers. The _Spirit_ countered with several of their archer pods, and the Light of Truth with its close in weapons. Both ships cleared the Covenant fleet and raced towards the _Unyielding Apocalypse. _One of the assault carriers came about and fired on the _Spirit_ with their energy projector.

Cutter was forced into his seldom used chair from the impact as the Spirit was lurched forward. Serina's avatar flashed into existence on the holotable as Cutter spun his char around.

"Report?"

"The Covenant fleet hit us with some type of weapon I've never seen before. The _Razor's Edge'_s database identifies it as some kind of particle beam weapon. The aft shielding is down to eighty-four percent strength."

"What about the _Light of Truth_?"

"Their shields took more of a beating, but they're moving to cover us as planned."

"I'm releasing the safeties on the nukes" Cutter said as he entered his authorization code onto his armrest panel, "fire as soon as we're in range."

The _Unyielding Apocalypse _began to prepare its own defenses when it saw that their escorts had no chance of slowing the human vessel down. As soon as it had entered the maximum range for its missiles, the _Spirit_ fired off a volley of archer missiles. The UNSC vessel continued to close with the Covenant station and fired a second volley of missiles. By this time the station's point defense lasers opened fire on the approaching archer missiles; and the _Spirit_ was still on a trajectory for the Covenant station. She finally fired off a third volley of missiles, along with a single nuclear missile. The pulse lasers were hard pressed to detect the the nuclear missile and assumed their shields would withstand the impact of a few missiles. The few missiles the lasers let through, had the nuke in their midst.

"Five seconds to impact" Serina said as she closed the blast doors on the bridge.

"Stand by on the MAC gun, we're only going to get one shot at this."

A blinding flash appeared on the docking ring of the unyielding apocalypse as the nuke struck the shields protecting the station. At the same moment, the _Spirit_ fired its MAC gun and the uranium slug raced through the thermonuclear fire and easily punched through the weakened shields and into the docking ring. Now inside the shield perimeter, the slug was able to exit the relatively thin docking ring and continue on to one of the two asteroids that made up the body of the station, impacting the surface but not doing enough damage due to its inertia being decreased by the docking ring.

"Serina, now!"

Serina activated several of the _Spirit_'s emergency thrusters to blow them out of their ballistic trajectory and had now oriented the ships to travel parallel to the shield of the Covenant station. At that same moment, the _Spirit_ re-established its cloak and veered away from the station; the plasma torpedoes fired from the station dissipated as their target could no longer be found.

"_Light of Truth_ reports they destroyed another Covenant ship in the fray and are also heading for the rendezvous, under cloak of course."

"Maintain course"

The prophet gripped his chair as the entire station shook with the impact of the MAC round into the asteroid's surface.

"Incompetent primates" he swore as he banged his fist against his arm rest.

"Do you speak of the humans? Because when it comes to space combat they are anything but incompetent."

"I spoke of the Jiralhanae, were it not for their blundering then perhaps the shield generators would still be at full strength! Their primitive culture is the reason I have so precious few engineers left; and their incompetence has cost me three valuable vessels."

"Perhaps it is time to seize the relic on the surface?"

"I don't need you to tell me what needs to be done!" The prophet bellowed as he activated his communicator to the field master on the surface. "Attack the humans immediately, seize the relic and leave no one alive!"

**

* * *

**

April 30, 2009

**location: somewhere in the Nevada desert- Area 51**

"They're on the move!" One of the technicians in the firebase ops center said. Major Stevens watched the holotable as the icons representing the Covenant force began to advance.

"The large dropships are holding position for now" Captain Williams said.

"What about their air forces?" Alan asked

"Advancing at the same pace it seems, looks like a mixture of Banshees and Seraphs with Phantoms providing gunship support."

"Get me a line to our fighters."

Alan picked up a headset from the table and placed it over his head, a tech in the corner nodded to him and Alan pulled the mic closer to his mouth.

Above them, forty fighters of various design flew with the squadrons of longswords that the _Spirit_ had sent down; constituting their entire offensive air wing.

"Major Cunningham?" Alan spoke into the mic.

The pilot of the lead fighter, an F-22 snapped his mask on and replied, "yes, sir?

"Your fighters need to keep our ground forces protected at all costs. Leave the shielded fighters to the UNSC, you go after the smaller ones."

"Understood sir," the Major replied, although was a little discouraged at having to take a backseat to the Longswords. His radar suddenly beeped with the approach of dozens of contacts.

"All squadrons, bandits bearing 185 at 12 o'clock high" Cunningham said. "Weapons free, anything with an energy shield you leave to our 'allies'."

Higher above them, a mix of Covenant banshees and seraphs descended on the mix of American and UNSC fighters. Soon, a brutal dogfight erupted with the UNSC longswords striking the first blows by accelerating to meet the Covenant force head on. The slower American fighters soon caught up and found themselves in the fight of their lives as three F-16s detonated after plasma impacts to their wings and fuel tanks.

_Damn it_ Cunningham cursed in his head after seeing the three planes disappear off his radar. "All fighters, I repeat, avoid the shielded bandits, focus on the ones that look like dragonflies."

No sooner had he said that then a banshee rolled into his cross hairs. "Fox-three" Cunningham said as he fired one of the few AMRAAM missiles he had in his fighter's payload bay. The missile struck the banshee's left wing and sent the Covenant craft tumbling down trailing smoke. Cunningham banked left and flew back into the fray with the Covenant craft.

"_All planes, this is Lieutenant Davis. Don't use your sidewinders, these things don't give off a heat signature that it can lock onto."_

Cunningham cursed the fact that a good chunk of his on board ordnance was now useless. Bringing his plane around he decided to pick off any targets of opportunity that might attempt to strafe the base. Unfortunately his radar didn't pick up the seraph coming down on him due to the fact the Covenant craft's energy shield absorbed radar rather than reflect it. Laser pulses racked the titanium frame of the F-22, and Major Elias Cunningham ceased to exist as his fighter transformed into fiery debris.

* * *

Area 51 proper's northern perimeter had been transformed into the third of three defense lines that were the only thing standing between the base and the approaching Covenant ground force. Humvees, APCs and what few tanks the US Army had managed to get to Nevada were on their way to the second defense line where they were assigned to fight along what UNSC forces hadn't been selected to entirely man the first defense line.

David Stevens and his team had been assigned to the Marine contingent manning the second line, and were in the process of swapping their Haz-Team gear for battle dress at the staging area behind the third defense line. Above them, David could see the Air Force engaging the Covenant.

"Listen up" Florence said as he wheeled a crate over to his men and opened it, inside were several new rifles. "These are SCAR-H's and they are about the only gun we have that can fire ammunition matching what the UNSC uses, meaning these are the only guns liable to save your ass from some alien. Lieutenant Colonel Brigham's Army Rangers cleared out most of them, but I managed to appropriate us this crate. David picked one of the weapons along with the other members of his team.

"Now we've been assigned to Captain Smyth's company, I'm in charge of B platoon which means you all are now a fireteam for that platoon."

"Oorah" they shouted in unison.

"That's what I like to hear" Florence said, "get to the motorpool."

David finished grabbing spare magazines for his new rifle and loaded them into his vest when Florence stopped him from heading to their vehicle.

"With everything that happened down there, I need to know if you're good for this mission?"

"I am, sir, it was just a lot to take in at once."

"I need to know immediately if you feel compromised and can't carryout your job, we clear?"

"Crystal, sir."

"Sort out your gear and get to the motor pool, we have less than half an hour before the aliens hit our allies' defense line."

Back at the firebase, a Warthog carrying Fred, Linda and Maria drove into the underground garage where the combat engineers were putting finishing touches on the area they hollowed out underground. The garage itself was virtually empty save for a mark I elephant which was in the process of being modified by the rest of Red Team. Fred drove the Warthog right up to the elephant and got out; Linda taking his position in the driver's seat.

"You got everything you need?" Fred asked her.

Kyle called ahead and made sure the 'hog was already loaded up before they dropped it off.

"We got this covered, you do what you need to do" Maria interjected.

"Good luck out there" Fred said before the Warthog sped up he ramp and out into the desert. Fred then turned his attention to Red Team as they disembarked and came to attention.

"Kyle placed me in charge of Red Team for the battle" Fred announced, much to the disdain of Douglas. "Now what exactly are you working on?"

"It was Alice's idea, sir" Jerome said, "she figured since we may have to extract soldiers under fire and didn't have any armored carriers that we slap a few layers of ceramic armor over the payload deck of an elephant. Its highly rated stuff we took from the stores of the _Razor's Edge_."

"That's good thinking. Professor Anders is on her way down with a few things she's been working on."

No sooner had he said that then a pair of Warthogs carrying railers and and a Gremlin came down the entrance ramp into the garage. Professor Anders got out of the lead Warthog and beckoned for Fred and his Spartans to come over. She brought them over to what appeared to be a piece of UNSC high explosive ordinance designed to be dropped from aircraft, however the casing had been modified with temperature stabilizers, pressure modules and some refrigeration equipment.

"Allow me to introduce you to the UNSC's first cryogenic ordinance" Anders said, "I siphoned off some of the N2 from the _Spirit of Fire_'s freezer tanks and used it to fashion a sort of cryo bomb. The contents are kept under high pressure so when detonated the liquid nitrogen will spread over a wide area. I don't know how effective it will be against tanks, but ground troops will almost certainly be incapacitated with cryo burns."

"What else do you have for me?"

"These" Anders said as she beckoned to three long barreled weapons on the second trailer. "I constructed them based off of the design of that directed energy laser you brought over from the _Razor's_ _Edge_, the monitor helped me fabricate enough components for three weapons. I'm recommending we mount them on the Hawks."

"I'll make sure its done" Fred said as he looked at the Gremlin that now bolstered some kind of turret on its roof.

"Its of Forerunner design; an electromagnetic pulse emitter strong enough to disrupt any Covenant vehicle, and fry any UNSC vehicle, permanently."

"How many of these do you have?" Fred asked.

"Just the one I'm afraid, the shield generator for the ship took too much time and resources. We had to remove the entire command center from the back of the car to make room for a generator for the EMP."

"We'll make do" Fred said, "have the bomb and the lasers sent to the other side of the base and affixed to aircraft. Doctor, I want you to stay on the surface and oversee the deployment of your new toys, me and Red Team are heading out soon."

**

* * *

**

April 30, 2009

**location: somewhere in the Nevada desert- Forerunner complex **

Kyle, along with the Master Chief entered the infirmary where the rest of Blue Team, Tom and Lucy, still were. Kyle's mother had also accompanied him down at his request; standing off to one side was Kelly, holding the case she brought from the surface. Kyle crossed the room over to her and removed his helmet.

"The pilot of that dropship told me to bring this here" she said as she handed the case to Kyle, which he took and set down near on one of the infirmary beds.

"You seem a little awkward around me" she said to him.

"This is just a... stressful experience... you not remembering" Kyle said.

"Why is that so stressful?"

Kyle motioned for her to follow him out of earshot of the others, so she followed him to the corner of the room.

"Look, you and I, we're... you know, 'involved'"

Kelly's eyes widened at the revelation, "oh, I didn't know, obviously I couldn't have. I'm sorry, I have to be making things worse for you, not remembering anything."

"That's why I asked you here, I wanna try something that might help you remember who you are."

As they were talking, Marlyn was checking up on Tom who was now conscious and not in any pain. She consulted the overhead display before giving a verdict.

"The scanners indicate the nanites have repaired the bone and also eliminated all bacteria from your bloodstream."

"You mean he's going to be ok?" Lucy asked.

Tom confirmed this by slowly standing up on the leg that he had been dragging for the past week.

"Feels good as new," he said as he took a few experimental steps, expecting whatever magic that had been used to mend his bone to suddenly stop working.

"If you're all set, Kyle has placed you under my command and we're needed on the surface" the Chief said.

Kyle in the mean time walked over to Tom's bed where his mother was finishing powering down the equipment when a soft warning came from the bed next to Tom's. Marc, Kyle's cousin, was starting to stir. Marlyn walked over to his bead and checked the readout, indicating that the nanites had indeed done their job and that Marc's synapses had been stabilized. Kyle joined his mother by Marc's bedside as he began to stir, hie eyes slowly opening and adjusting to the bright light of the infirmary.

He groaned as he tried to sit up, so Kyle offered him a hand which Marc took without looking to see who offered it. Only when he realized the hand he grabbed was metal did he suddenly become alert and looked up at Kyle.

"Ok, real trippy dream" he muttered to himself.

"Its not a dream, you've been a coma for several days" Marlyn said.

"Riiight" Marc said sarcastically "I had a real bad headache before I crashed in your guest room, auntie. And now you're telling me I was in a coma and I wake up in a room right out of Stargate Atlantis? Yeah, I know dreamland when I see it, thanks."

Kyle lightly pinched part of his arm between his two gauntleted fingers, producing a yelp of pain from Marc.

"Are you supposed to feel pain in a dream?" Kyle asked.

"Ok, maybe I'm not in a dream, but real or not you guys aren't very forthcoming. If I was in a coma then how'd you get me out of it? And how'd I get in it in the first place, I don't exactly go around giving myself head trauma you know."

"The transfer of memories Kyle did to you a few days back, your brain couldn't handle it and essentially shut itself down from information overload. Marlyn explained to a wide eyed Marc."

"Well I don't have all sorts of memories that aren't mine cropping up in my eyeballs, you got rid of them, right?"

Although Marc couldn't see Kyle's expression through his helmet, Marlyn hung her head a little low.

"Right?" Marc inquired.

"The information is being regulated by a series of nanites in your brain," Marlyn said, "you can still access the memories, it just requires a bit of... mental thought."

Marc immediately got out of bed and stood up in protest, "oh no, I've seen this episode before, you need to get these things out of my head before they propagate and turn me into some god damed replicator!"

"Stop being paranoid, they're harmless" Kyle said.

"The reclaimer is correct, a class 5 nanoscopic medical treatment unit has an artificial intelligence rating of four point three," the monitor said as he floated into the room. His arrival didn't go unnoticed and aside from the Chief being on edge, Marc quickly ducked behind the bed he'd just occupied.

"Fuck, that's the damn thing that killed Sergeant Johnson, what the fuck is it doing here!" He exclaimed.

"Relax, its a different one" Kyle said, "you have my memories, search them."

Marc looked unsure for a second before he closed his eyes and began to try and access the memories the nanites were now controlling. Soon, his vision was flooded with memories of the Forerunner shipyard where the monitor was picked up. Before the memories could spiral out of control, the nanites cut the connection and Marc was left with the fading afterimage of the memories. Satisfied that Autonomous Flash wasn't a threat, Marc slowly stood up.

"This is going to take some getting used to," he muttered.

"Look, I know you'd rather be somewhere else right now, but its not safe to leave," Kyle said. "Use my memories if you want details."

"Forgive me if I want an actual explanation, I'm not the kind of person to just abuse every new trick I get" Marc said with a scowl at Kyle.

"Ok, I deserved that, but you need to understand that you need to listen to me on this when I tell you you're gonna want to stay down here. The Covenant are coming."

"Awww, they're upstairs aren't they?" Marc said dreadfully.

"They're heading to take this facility, but its also our only way to stop the and thus is the safest place you could be."

"I get the point," Marc said, "stay here and try not to get in trouble."

With a nod, Kyle motioned for his mother to join him in the corner where he outlined what he wanted her to do for Kelly.

"Kyle, I'm not a doctor, I can't guarantee I'll be able to do anything for her."

"Mom, if there's any chance that those nanites can help her regain her memory then we need to take it."

"We, or you?" Marlyn inquired, "I know how you feel about her, but is it really worth the risk?"

"For her to be able to remember her own daughter, yes I do think its worth it" Kyle said as he walked off and out into the hall. The Chief shot a sideways glance as he lead Blue Team out of the infirmary and to the surface. Kyle stood in the hall pondering his actions regarding Kelly and Marc over the past few days, his concentration broken when the monitor came up behind him.

"Reclaimer, the other human group with you requested your presence on one of the lower levels."

"Why didn't they radio me?"

"They were to far down for their primitive communication signals to reach you. They sent a runner back to relay the message."

"Ok, I'll go check this out" Kyle said as he marched down the hall.

**

* * *

**

April 30, 2009

**location: somewhere in the Nevada desert, two miles from Rachel, Nevada**

Perched on a sandy desert hill a few miles from the base was a pair of Spartans. Covered in a tarp that was painted in desert camouflage, Linda stared down the oracle scope on her rifle as Maria served as her spotter next to her. Below them, the Covenant transports had lifted off for orbit leaving the advancing ground force behind. While not as numerically superior to the UNSC-American force, they made up for it in firepower consisting of the three behemoths that made up the rear of the Covenant force.

"Blue-two to red-one, I'm counting three Scarabs" Linda grimly said over the COM.

"_Take out any targets of opportunity and then fall back to the first defense line. Those Marines are gonna need you two, so no heroics, understood?"_

"Copy, understood" Linda replied before switching off her COM and going to a secured team channel.

"On three" Linda said to herself as she flashed her status light three times, which was accompanied on her HUD by an acknowledgment light from Maria next to her. The other Spartan raised a M99 gauss rifle and sighted down the scope at the first armored target she could find.

Linda winked her acknowledgment light once... twice... and three times.

With a loud crack Linda sent an armor piercing sabot round right into the skull of a Brute Major which exploded in a haze of purple blood and gore. Maria on the other hand had hit the plasma gunner of a wraith tank, and because she used a gauss rifle the higher speed projectile had impacted the interior of the vehicle and traveled straight into the plasma reactor. The vehicle exploded in a shower of plasma melted bits. Linda took out three more high ranking targets and Maria destroyed or disabled a further four vehicles before they both had expended their clips. Rather than reload and continue their guerrilla attack, the duo slowly slid out of view, the tarp still covering them until they were far enough down the hill for the now alert jackal snipers to not see them. The Spartans broke out in a run towards the NAV marker on their HUDs, marking the location of their stashed Warthog. The vehicle was covered by a similar camo tarp to hide it from the overhead battle between the Covenant and the combined Longsword-USAF force engaging them. While the American fighters were being decimated, they held their own; however both sides knew it was only a matter of time before the Covenant gained air superiority and the ground force would be facing threat from above as well as the ground.

"Red-one, we're on our way back" Linda said as she gunned the engine and raced for the first defense line.

Instead of buying the defenders precious time, the Covenant force actually increased their advance towards the first defense line as a result of Linda and Maria's sniper attack. The first defense line was still in the process of being set up, with only half the trenches and vehicle bunkers dug out of the ground. Five Cobras sat locked down in improvised vehicle bunkers that were actually dugouts protected by a few sandbags; however it did reduce the artillery vehicle's profile and therefore made it a harder target to hit. Scorpions and warthogs were also rolling into position and Marines in the trenches readied weapons and rocket launchers.

Linda and Maria arrived at the defense line just as the Covenant force entered visual range. They parked their Warthog near the CP, a deep trench where communication equipment and the company CO's staff was located, covered by yet another camouflage tarp. The two Spartans disembarked their Warthog and entered the bunker where they reported into the Lieutenant in command of the company.

"It seems you two only stirred up the hornet's nest back there, not surprising since those over sized ugly apes are running things back there" Lieutenant Samsa said in a condescending tone. "I suggest you to get to the trenches before the..."

He was cut off as the ground shook under multiple impacts. The two Spartans and Marine lieutenant raced out of the bunker and to the surface. A phalanx of brute choppers were racing around the defense line firing at the trenches; the Marines inside getting picked off as they try to return fire.

"Apes have more intelligence than I give them credit for" Samsa said, "no way the Cobras can hit something moving that fast."

Linda knew the Lieutenant was correct, the Brute chopper moved faster than a Cobra's barrel could rotate.

"All units, Samsa, target the monkeys. All Cobras get a firing solution on the Wraiths before they get in range." Samsa issued instructions before retreating into the CP. Linda and Maria ran for the front lines, each drawing their respective main weapons. Leaping into the closest trench, Linda popped up and sighted the closest chopper, waited for it to turn, exposing the driver, and pulled the trigger on her rifle.

"Go!" she said to Maria as the chopper flipped over as the body of its driver fell out, leaving no one to drive it. Maria sprinted from their trench and over to the downed vehicle, she had commandeered these a fair number of times during the battle for Earth and was quite skilled at driving them. In seconds she was racing across the desert, firing the twin grenade launchers at the other choppers. The mayhem it caused in the Covenant ranks was enough to give the Marines a chance at an organized counter attack. Rockets and shells from the few surviving Scorpions made short work of any surviving choppers.

"Gun batteries, get a firing solution on those wraiths!" Samsa yelled from the command post.

The Cobras were commonly nicknamed 'gun batteries' by the Marines while they were locked down in their main firing mode. One of the Cobras had been destroyed in the Brute's raid, however the remaining four Cobras had spooled up their rail guns and were already plotting targeting vectors. When all was said and done, Samsa gave the order to fire. What appeared to be blue corkscrews made of wispy smoke appeared at the barrels of the Cobras as they fired their hyper acceleration rounds and three wraiths and one brute prowler ceased to exist.

A brief cheer from the soldiers was interrupted by the report that the remaining wraiths, still estimated at around forty, were now within optimal weapons range. However there was no report of the wraiths opening fire and bombarding their position. Linda sighted down her oracle scope from her position in the trench to see what the Covenant were planning when she immediately had to duck due to the blob of green plasma that impacted only yards behind her trench.

"Shit, the scarabs are firing!" Another Marine yelled.

"How the hell are they hitting us from this far out!"

Linda knew that the main weapon on a scarab was fairly short range and couldn't hit a target at great distance, however they didn't have to aim when their enemy was lined up in a perfect line that made it almost impossible to miss their positions. Two more blobs hit the UNSC position, this time destroying three trenches and killing the Marines inside them. The scarabs fired yet another volley and this time succeeded in eliminating one of the Cobras.

"Damn it, return fire!" Samsa yelled from the CP.

"Incoming mortars!" Another Marine yelled as the wraiths finally let loose with everything they had. Smaller blobs of plasma, but my no means less destructive, began wreaking mayhem on the UNSC lines. Before long, over half the defense line had been destroyed or severely damaged and corpsman were rushing the wounded onto Warthog trailers. Samsa slammed his fist on his compad before he activated his company wide COM.

"All platoons fall back to the second defense line. Platoon 4, provide covering fire for platoons 1-3."

Samsa and his staff prepared to leave, but before they could get out of their trench it was struck by a wraith mortar. The Lieutenant and the other lucky Marines were ejected from the CP by the blast, but sported third degree burns. Samsa lied in the sand, trying to see out of his one working eye as the Covenant force was slowly growing bigger as they approached. Smoke billowed out of trenches and the husks of destroyed vehicles. Samsa tried to roll over on his stomach to try and crawl away before the Brutes got to him, he'd seen what they did to wounded soldiers in the shield world. Before he could resign himself to his fate, he felt a hand grasp the back of his tattered uniform and he was hoisted into the air and over the lap of Maria as she gunned her engine away from the shattered defense line.

"Linda, fall back, I've got the Lieutenant."

Linda stood vigilantly in her trench providing covering fire for Maria's rescue attempt. Soon she expended the last of her ammo supply and was forced to fall back. Accessing her armor's operating system she shunted all power to her aft shields and made a break on foot; it was a three mile trek back to the next defense line.

* * *

Back at the firebase, Major Stevens was looking at the smoke rising from the third defense line though a pair of UNSC binoculars. Captain Williams was in a heated discussion over the COM as she monitored the Covenant advance from the holotable.

"I want to speak to Lieutenant Samsa right now damn it!"

"_Sir, all I got was a brief message from Sergeant Andrews saying the CP was hit after the retreat order was given."_

Williams slammed her fist on the table before issuing new orders.

"Get all the survivors back here. Anyone or any vehicle capable of fighting is to man the second defense line. Severe wounded are to be brought back to the firebase for treatment."

"_This is Spartan-062, I have Lieutenant Samsa, he's alive but in critical condition. I'm coming in on a commandeered vehicle, I'd appreciate not being shot at."_

"Get him here ASAP, you've got clearance" Williams said before switching channels, "Spartan-104, get your men to the second defense line, they're gonna need all the help up there if we're gonna hold them back."

"Understood."

Williams removed her headset and set it down on the holotable before joining Alan at the main window.

"Are your people prepared for this?" She asked him.

"They know what's at stake, what happened at the first defense line was unfortunate, but it should give them the idea that this isn't a joke."

"I hope you're right, these soldiers are just like the militia we had on the outer colonies, only around to handle _human_ insurrections, not a full blown alien attack" Williams retorted.

"They'll do their jobs" Alan said back with a hint of hostility in his voice.

Both soldiers were drawn back to the holotable as an alarm sounded. On the table a 3D representation of the battle in the skies above appeared. Red dots representing the Covenant forces broke through the swarm of blue dots and headed for the surface.

"Damn it, that was too fast!" Williams swore as she donned her head set to issue orders. Major Stevens also donned his own headset and raised the air control tower.

"Sound the alarm and get the air defense crews in position, you've got one minute."

* * *

"Understood" Fred replied to Captain Williams before switching to his team channel. Red Team had just met up with Blue Team at the staging zone behind the third defense line to get ordinance when word came in that the Covenant had smashed their way through the first defense line with scarabs.

"Ok, Chief take your team and reinforce the US forces on the left flank of the second defense line, I'll take the right flank. Hopefully Kyle will be back soon and Omega Team can back us up" Fred ordered before the Master Chief came over to object.

"This is the wrong move, Fred, we should try and take out those scarabs."

"Chief, the second defense line is essentially under strength up there; half the force is essentially a planetary militia. If we're gonna stop them then we need the best we have out there with them, and right now that's us, Spartans."

"I'm not saying we send everyone we have, a small team to attack or at least delay the scarabs" the Chief counter proposed.

"We can't spare anyone, we need to get equipped and out to the motor pool as soon as possible..."

A siren began blaring overhead as soldiers rushed to gather equipment and man anti aircraft guns. In the commotion, the Master chief slipped away from Fred and over to the motor pool. Once there he commandeered a Mongoose, checked that he had equipped himself with enough ordinance and sped off into the foothills parallel the third defense line.

"I take it we're going the long way?" Cortana asked.

"You got it" the Chief replied as he gunned the warthog's engine through the hills, past the second defense line. In the distance he could see the main Covenant force as it cleared the remains of the first defense line and closed in on the second. The Chief headed deeper into the foothills to try and flank the Covenant force somehow.

"Do you have a plan in mind for taking out those scarabs?" Cortana asked him.

"I'm making it up as I go along" the Chief replied.

"Crazy, well fortunately for you, I like crazy. I'll access the topographic maps the ship made to determine the best... Chief, above us!"

A pair of banshees came streaking through the sky right at the Chief, having broken through the fighters in the skies above them. The Chief attempted to evade, but the combination of two fuel rod blasts in close proximity essentially sandwiched the Chief in their blasts. The concussive force smashed his Mongoose and sent the Chief flying; his old MJOLNIR armor suffering a temporary systems failure forcing Cortana to disengage the pressure seal on his helmet so the Chief could get some air. The Chief's helmet came off on impact and the Master Chief rolled over onto his back staring up at the sky as he began to loose consciousness.

"_You ever wonder what's up there?"_

* * *

Deciding to ignore the Master Chief's disappearance, Fred was forced to take command of Blue Team and leave Red Team as their backup. Linda and Maria had been temporarily assigned to Blue as a result and the six Spartans set out for the defense line. Will and Tom were relegated to heavy weapons duty and each carried a SPNKr rocket launcher to protect the Spartans against the banshees that were now gathering with the main assault force.

Fred lead his team into a trench occupied by a group of US Marines who were preparing their own assortment of weapons, Fred saw a couple wield a pair of antique stinger missile launchers, antiques from his perspective only.

"Spread out, staggered positions."

Five green acknowledgment lights were received on his HUD. Fred then turned his attention to the battlefield, roughly half the personnel manning the defense line were UNSC and the rest were a mix of various forces from the US. Tanks and a few artillery pieces that Fred had only seen in historical vids were being made ready for combat. Fred took position next to a US Marine who was fiddling with his weapon, obviously appearing to have not trained properly in it's use. He recognized the Marine as the one who had been down in the Forerunner complex, the one who was related to Kyle.

Corporal David Stevens was attempting to pull the stock out on his SCAR-H when Fred got in the trench next to him. At first he thought it was Kyle, but the armor Fred war was a mark VI instead of the mark V Kyle wore and David easily recognized the aesthetic differences. Just as he managed to find the stock release, there was a loud explosion from the forward most part of the defense line, the scarabs were once again opening fire from long range. This time, the defenders knew what was coming. It was a calculated risk, but the forward trenches were manned by as few personnel as possible.

While to the Covenant it appeared they were smashing the human defenses once more, they were in fact buying time for artillery to begin firing on their position. Cobras and American artillery pieces began firing on the Covenant force, in some cases crippling more Covenant vehicles, in most failing to do any damage to the scarabs. Surprisingly the scarabs halted once they were within proper firing range and allowed the regular ground force to storm the defense line. Real trench warfare soon broke out as the defenders fought from pit to pit to keep the Covenant forces at bay. Grunts were cut down by American machine gun fire with relative ease, but the untrained soldiers were unprepared for scores of suicide Grunts, under the the direction of the Brutes who promised execution if they didn't comply, to start storming the trenches. For the most part, the UNSC faired well under the this suicide charge having experienced them before. The US forces on the other hand were unprepared for the bold tenacity of the Grunts and took a beating from the suicide charge.

The banshees weren't making it any easier. Thankfully the UNSC had called in their Hornets along with a few Hawks. The Covenant were in for a big surprise as they found themselves on the receiving end of Professor Anders' nose mounted Spartan lasers. The batteries that supplied the weapons ran out after a few shots, but the Covenant lost another half a dozen Wraiths and a few Hunters.

Fred's trench meanwhile soon became the front line of the defense line as the trenches in front were withered down by the Covenant advance. Fred had just killed his third brute when he ran out of ammo and was forced to switch clips. David had finished reloading his weapon and popped up to continue firing; the two of them had developed this reload and cover routine despite not saying a word to one another since the battle began. Thanks mostly to the sniper skills of Linda and Maria, they were keeping the Covenant at bay.

"Keep firing!" Lieutenant Florence cried. The Lieutenant had lost contact with the rest of the platoon he was supposed to be in charge of and only had his Haz-Team members to back him up in addition to Blue Team. Their survival thus far was due in no small part to the presence of the Spartans in his trench.

"Boss, the purple spiders are moving again!" Corporal Grimm shouted over to him.

The scarabs had indeed started moving again, and Florence couldn't help the sense of dread that was now overtaking him.

"This is Lieutenant Florence, all units in sector 3 fall back to the rear trenches!" He shouted over the radio, hoping some soldiers would be able to escape in time. With the amount of fire their trench was taking he knew they wouldn't be able to make a break for it, and with the Spartans here that also made them a prime target for the scarabs.

"Incoming!" Florence screamed when he saw a plasma grenade arc in their direction and land on the unfortunate back of Corporal Grimm.

"Get it off me!" he shrieked in terror as he tried to pull his vest off in vein. Florence dove for cover as the grenade detonated and reduced the corporal to a bloody mush. David was caught in the blast and as a result his backside was covered in warm blood and steaming pieces of the late Corporal Grimm.

"This is Spartan-104, our position is in danger of being overrun, request extraction" Fred said over the COM.

"_This is Red Team, we're on your six"_

Before Fred could even think about turning to look behind, he watched as one of the trailing scarabs came to a halt and suddenly firing on the Scarab in front of it with it's main weapon. The unsuspecting scarab was blown apart by the torrent of plasma that dove straight for it's reactor casing. This act however alerted the forward scarab and its turret immediately spun around and firing on the renegade scarab's plasma emitter, disabling the main weapon. The forward scarab then did a 180, lined the rogue up in its sights and promptly destroyed it wit the main weapon.

"What the hell was that!" David said aloud.

Fred smiled to himself as he realized the likely culprit behind the destruction of the two Scarabs.

"_I sure hope you got out in time, John"_

Douglas' voice came in over the COM _"Blue-Team, keep your head down"_

"Everyone down!" Fred yelled as high explosive canister shells were hurled at the Covenant troops in front of Fred's position, obliterating them. Fred turned around to see Red Team's elephant escorted by a pair of tanks he didn't recognized, but sported heavy armor and firepower. Escorting them from the rear was Anders' gremlin with the professor herself inside behind the driver, in control of the EMP gun. The elephant's ceramic armor bore signs of heavy fire but was sucessfully keeping the troop ncompartment safe, which opened and spilled a few UNSC Marines and US service personnel who provided covering fire. The Spartans covered the Haz-team's retreat before falling back themselves. Once safely inside the elephant, Douglas who was driving the Elephant signaled Alice and Jerome who were each controlling one of Sergeant Forge's Grizzlies to form up for retreat. Anders disabled a wraith that tried to charge the retreating vehicles before she took position at the lead of the makeshift convoy.

"_This is Anders, we're clear, commence cryo strike."_

A shortsword bomber flew in low over the battlefield and released its payload of Anders' cryo bomb. The weapon detonated over the Covenant troops, covering them in liquid nitrogen that literally stopped them in their tracks. The vehicles for the most part didn't sustain any damage, but the ground troops didn't have the luxury of vehicles to shield them and thus received the brunt of the N2.

The bombing run along with the loss of two scarabs effectively paralyzed the Covenant force as they halted their advance to regroup. Despite the damage that was dealt to the Covenant, the human defenders suffered much worse and were forced to retreat to the third and final defense line. As they fell back, the Spartans were joined by warthogs, scorpions and an assortment of US vehicles as the impromptu convoy drove the three miles back to the base, loaded with wounded.

Fred had joined Douglas in the cockpit of the Elephant and was looking out across the battlefield, bodies and wreaked equipment lied scattered, some on fire.

"I saw one of their tanks take a few hits from a ghost before it was finished" Douglas said referring to the Army's M1 Abrams. "One thing's for certain, no way we're gonna hold that last defense line."

Fred knew this time, Douglas was right.

**

* * *

**

April 30, 2009

**location: somewhere in the Nevada desert- Forerunner complex**

Kyle made his way down to the lower levels of the complex with the monitor in tow. Cassandra had tried to come with him, but Kyle had already ordered her to the surface. The lights down here were not powered so Kyle was using his flashlights to see around, augmented by some degree by the monitor's own glow. Commander Madison and his SEALs were just up ahead as Kyle could see a collection of glow sticks. There were only three and they were clustered around a prone form on the floor, Kyle knew that two had been left to guard the control room and the remaining five were supposed to be down here,

We found him about fifteen minutes ago Madison said gesturing to the body on the floor, it was dressed in a tattered old hazmat suit. "It looks like he was on the team that came in here in '83."

"How'd he die?" Kyle asked.

"Single gunshot wound to the head" another SEAL said as he held up the weapon they'd pried from his hands earlier. "Its weird though, I checked the clip and its completely empty. Its as if he used his last bullet to kill himself."

"Kyle, get a look at the back of his head for me" Kalmiya asked.

Kyle did as asked and leaned in closer to the dead man's head; although it was still covered by the hazmat helmet, he could see two distinct holes in the fabric of the helmet.

"Commander, I thought you said this man died from a _single_ gunshot wound?" Kalmiya said through the external speakers.

Kyle was then forced to explain about the AI he carried in his armor and that he wasn't trying to trick them again or anything of that matter, after which the Commander confirmed that it was a single bullet, going so far as to point out the entry and exit wounds.

"If anything the second hole looks like the entry wound, like it was punched in from the outside."

"Kyle, that hole is roughly where his brain stem is" Kalmiya said to him.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Kyle said.

"I really wish I wasn't" Kalmiya replied.

"What's this second hole about?" Madison asked impatiently.

"Where are the other two members of your group?" Kyle asked him.

"I sent them ahead to scout..."

"Get them back here, now!"

"Not without an explanation."

"Kyle, I'm picking them up on the motion tracker, they're coming this way."

Sure enough Kyle's motion tracker was registering two contacts heading towards their position. He told Madison this who then proceeded to contact them on the radio, without any response.

"Parker, Andrews, why aren't you on your radios..ahhh!" A tentacle had suddenly grabbed Madison's foot and pulled him down and away from Kyle and the other two SEALs. The other two SEALs and Kyle both raised their weapons down the hall in time to see something dart up into the ceiling, the rest of the hallway was empty. From above them, a ceiling duct burst open and showered one of the SEALs with debris, debris that attacked him and his partner. Kyle didn't waste a second and fire immediately, being rewarded with a few popping noises.

"I'm re routing power to this section," the monitor said.

The light came back on, dimly, but it was enough for Kyle to witness scores of Flood infection forms incapacitate the two SEALs. Looking down the hall, Kyle could see the remains of the other two SEALs who went out on patrol who had since been turned into combat forms. From another duct came the recently transformed Commander Madison, wielding his weapon. He didn't get the chance to use it as he was instantly killed by the monitor's own weapon.

"Reclaimer, we must evacuate this area. Infection protocols are now in effect!"

Kyle put the remaining SEALs out of their misery with ease before retreating along with the monitor. There was no telling if there were other combat forms or even pure Flood forms waiting for them. The only thing Kyle knew was that the fight to save his Earth just got a lot harder.


	26. Chapter 25: stand, part 3

**Message from the general: **Sorry for another long wait, the untimely demise of my previous computer and the difficulty in replacing it played a part. On another note, if you've checked out the latest 'News From Me' update on my profile, you'll know about the situation with my formatting marks. If you haven't, I'll give you the lowdown right now.

The double dash marks (ex: -) I used to indicate a scene/small time change have been removed from all of my stories, past and present, thanks to a formatting update on this site. They'll be replaced with three Xs for all subsequent chapters and stories. As for my past stories, I don't have the time to fix all the chapters that have been affected presently. So to any new readers of this fic, if you were wondering why my scene changes seemed like a mess, this is why. Blame the admins as it's their fault.

Anyway, hang on for yet another ride as this is another of those shocker chapters that'll start to bring things full circle.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**chapter 25: stand, part 3**

**April 30, 2009**

**location: somewhere in the Nevada desert- Area 51**

"I need a complete casualty assessment now!"

Captain Williams and Major Stevens were still going over the damage to their forces as they regrouped to man the final defense line. The estimates they had gotten indicated the Covenant had now suffered between forty and fifty percent losses, including the unexplained loss of two of their scarabs. Thankfully, they had halted their advance to presumably lick their wounds as the human defenders were doing just now.

"Estimates for our forces ate roughly the same as the Covenant, looks like your people got off fairly easy," Williams said to the Major.

"All of our artillery pieces had to be left behind, along with eight of our tanks," Alan reported, "that only leaves us a dozen on our side, yours?"

"We had sixty Scorpion tanks, we're down to roughly twenty. We've only lost a few warthogs and hornets. Ammo for the cobras is down to seven percent, enough to halfway arm three of them."

"What about manpower?"

"Over two hundred dead or missing, seventy eight wounded at last count. Gives us roughly five hundred combat ready Marines."

"We have just over eighty dead or missing, twice that wounded."

Williams sighed, "One line of defense protecting this place."

"We should evacuate the wounded while we have this respite," Alan suggested.

"Who's gonna escort them out?"

"That's what I was about to discuss."

Both Alan and Williams knew that each would suggest the other's forces to get the wounded to safety. Williams went first in their predictable argument.

"You and I both know my forces have the better shot at defending this place than you."

"All the more reason they should escort the wounded," Alan retorted, "if you can fight off the Covenant better than we can then you're the logical choice to go."

"And leave you to be rolled over and slaughtered? That's not the corps' credo."

With a bit of reluctance in his voice, Alan said "I never said we'd get slaughtered."

"What's that supposed to mean..."

"Sirs, we have a message coming in from NORAD," the COM tech reported.

"Pipe it in here." Alan said as he turned around to face the display screen. General Denning once more appeared, with a look that was a mix of anger and concern.

"_The satellite images I'm getting aren't painting a pretty picture, Major."_

"I'm afraid they're accurate, sir. The Covenant have broke through our two defense lines and are poised to hit the base directly. Now we've inflicted considerable damage and they have paused to regroup."

"_I'm sensing a 'but' here, Major."_

"Our forces have been equally damaged, and our air wing has expended their ordinance. They've retreated south to Creech; the UNSC are heading for Edwards. Our ground forces have lost a lot of material, but we're still good in manpower. I am preparing to EVAC our wounded."

"_Stevens, you're essentially telling me I have to initiate the hammer-down protocol."_

"General, I believe that if we can get some bombers in the air with conventional ordinance..."

"_You just told me you're without fighter cover, I'm not about to order more pilots into the air on a suicide run that won't even succeed, nor can I mobilize more squadrons for a coordinated attack in time. You knew the risks when you were briefed and were told what would happen if you were in danger of being overrun."_

"Say again, you're breaking up" Williams yelled into her headset, "what do you mean you're calling a Code Hydra? There's nothing down there but dust... well how did the balloon parasites get down there then!"

"Wait one, General" Alan said before turning to Williams. What's going on?

"Spartan-091 just said there's hostile parasites in the Forerunner complex underground. He doesn't know how many there are or how they got there. Most of the SEAL team was wiped out."

Alan had read the Halo books after his son's departure the last time and knew immediately what Captain Williams was talking about; the Flood.

"General, I've just been informed the Flood are in the Forerunner complex, and they are hostile; SEAL team 6 is confirmed KIA."

"_The Flood is there, now?"_ The General ran a hand over his head, _"get your people out of there. I'm calling the president and authorizing the B2 to proceed. Tell the UNSC if they want to live into the next hour they'll get the hell out of there..."_ the screen cut to static.

"Get him back." Alan ordered.

"Sorry, sir, the Covenant just started jamming all frequencies, looks like their computers finally broke our counter scramblers," the COM tech reported.

"Start tracing the source of their ECM, maybe we can knock it out," Williams instructed to the techs in the ops center. She then turned to Alan, "what's this hammer-down protocol?"

"Since I was ordered to warn you, there's no sense in keeping it secret anymore. A B2 stealth bomber took off from Missouri when the battle began... its carrying a nuclear bomb. To be used in the event the base is overrun."

Williams groaned as she pinched her nose with her fingers, "ok, how long until it gets here?"

"I don't know where it is, but by now its holding position roughly an hour out."

"Which means we have an hour to EVAC the wounded and fight off the Covenant," Williams defiantly said.

"Did you not hear what I said, the Air Force is going to drop a nuke on us if we don't leave now!"

"And what's to stop the Covenant from gaining control of the Forerunner complex, taking the combat sentinels and doing to us what we were going to do to them?"

"I would imagine the Flood" Alan said.

"Either way, _we _have a plan to deal with both problems that's a little less costly than yours."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're not the only one who brought a nuke to this party."

**XXX**

The Spartans reached the staging point behind the final defense line in time to meet up with Cassandra who was gearing up. The Haz-team along with the rest of rescued soldiers and Spartans disembarked the elephant and began replenishing their ammo.

"Have you heard anything from command?" Fred asked Cassandra.

"Nothing, the ranking officer, Lieutenant Elliot has ordered all the Marines back to the front for a final stand. He also sent word to get the aircraft in the air. The US forces are still waiting for orders, but a few units are already out there."

Before Fred could issue orders to join them, they got a message over the general COM.

"_This is Captain Williams. I've just been informed that given our desperate situation, the US Air Force is planning to use nuclear weapons on the base within the hour to stop the Covenant. Given the tactical situation we face, I don't blame them. We're preparing to evacuate our wounded and all US forces have been instructed to escort them out. Despite the threat we face, I'm ordering all UNSC forces to stay put, as well as extending an invitation to any US forces willing to fight off the Covenant long enough to get the Forerunner complex weapons activated. You know what needs to be done, that is all."_

The soldiers gathered seemed to stop everything they were doing as they let the information sink in. It was almost a minute before some people began moving, most of them US military as they ran in some cases to vehicles to take part in the evacuation. At the firebase, warthogs and Humvees were prepared as the wounded were being rushed out of the barracks, which had been made into battlefield hospitals. Despite the threat, some US servicemen decided to stay and fight, most being the crews manning the AA guns and tanks; some however included the Haz-team who walked up to the Spartans shortly after the announcement was made. Lieutenant Florence was looking worse for wear with his uniform caked in the blood of the late Corporal Grimm.

"Look, I'm not the one for profound complements, but you saved our asses out there and we'd be damned if we didn't repay you. Wherever you need us, we'll go."

"I appreciate that," Fred replied as he extended his hand, Florence taking it.

"They're moving!" A soldier yelled.

Sure enough, the lone scarab and its assorted force had begun its advance once more towards the base. UNSC Marines and US soldiers began a dash to get into the trenches and various other positions of cover. Other soldiers merely sped up their evacuation.

"Lieutenant, follow me," Fred practically ordered. The surviving members of the Haz-Team gladly followed their former saviors over to where the UNSC equipment was stored. Fred opened it and began passing out a pair of SPNKr launchers to the Lieutenant's men.

"We'll need some heavy support watching our backs, feel up to it?"

Florence lifted one of the rocket launchers himself, "no problem"

**XXX**

"_We just finished loading the wounded now. Those UNSC types are finishing loading their wounded on their Pelicans, they're flying to Edwards now."_

"Understood, and tell the doc I can't get any helicopters in from Creech, we don't have any fight cover to protect them. He's just going to have to triage his patents on the move."

Major Stevens was finishing up a radio call with Lieutenant Colonel Brigham of the Army Rangers, who was the leader of the EVAC convoy. Despite being of a higher rank than Alan, it was Stevens who had been selected over Brigham for his greater familiarity of the situation, Brigham's own desire to personally command his troops, and the lack of time to get a more qualified superior officer briefed in time. All part of the president and Joint Chief's plan to limit the amount of information that had been disseminated so far. Colonel Brigham now had taken charge of US forces as they prepared to abandon Area 51. Stevens knew quite a few soldiers had technically defied orders by staying behind to help the UNSC hold the base, Brigham wasn't wasting manpower trying to get them to comply.

"Sir, what exactly are we going to do with the men refusing the EVAC order?"

"_The nuke will sort them out, Major. They'd face a court martial and prison anyway, why not go out futility fighting."_

"_They've got more balls than you,"_ Alan said to himself.

"_Major, you've got five minutes to get your affairs in order and get down here."_

"Stevens," Williams called to him.

"Understood, Colonel," Alan said before walking over to Williams.

"I'm giving your guys a few warthogs to augment your EVAC. Hopefully the Covenant will be too busy with us to notice your group."

"Thanks for the help, and good luck," Alan said as he shook hands with the UNSC Captain.

"I kinda wish you were sticking around, good luck to your guys too."

She spun around and walked to the observation window to witness the US convoy's departure. Alan made for the door, but as he reached it he stopped. He had been ready to abandon Earth just a few days ago and leave with Kyle when defeating the Covenant didn't seem likely. Even with the president's pledge of support it was still a long shot, and here he was in the middle of that very same scenario. Soldiers of the US and UNSC had already decided to throw their lives into defying the odds, and yet here he was getting ready to run for the hills with a Colonel who was more content to leave his own people behind.

We don't leave our people behind.

That credo had been drilled into his very fiber, and no matter which way he tried to justify it, leaving now would be leaving the soldiers who volunteered to defy imposable odds, behind.

"_Screw it"_

Allan pulled out his radio and hailed Colonel Brigham.

"Colonel, leave now, I'm staying."

"_Major, I do believe my saying you get down here wasn't a request. If you do this you're..."_

"Frankly you can court martial me if I live, _sir. _Either way I'll see you in hell."

With that, Stevens clicked off his radio and walked over to join Williams, who no doubt heard the whole exchange. They both watched the Colonel's convoy leave and pass behind the back of the firebase to the south, and to safety.

"Looks like you're with us for the duration," Williams said. "You'd better organize whoever is left from your contingent, they're moving again."

Alan looked out to see the massive form of the scarab move closer and closer to the base, this time without the aid of binoculars.

"Lieutenant, lock us up."

"Aye, Captain" one of the other Marines in the ops center said before initiating commands that caused the ops center to retract backward. Blast shutters closed over the observation windows and the main ramp into the firebase, effectively sealing it up.

"We've got an extraction plan parked out back, in case things get hairy here", Williams said to Alan.

"With our luck, things are bound to get hairy."

**

* * *

**

April 30, 2009

**location: Alaska, MT McKinley- presidential bunker**

The president sat in one of the lavishly decorated conference rooms as he watched General Denning's briefing on the large projector screen mounted on the far wall. The bunker he was in was half a mile under the largest mountain in North America and probably cost billions of dollars during whatever administration it had been built during. Despite the millions of tons of rock over his head, the president felt his days were numbered thanks to the report Denning was delivering.

"_These satellite images were taken just a few minutes ago which seems to indicate the majority of our forces have retreated to the south. This will put them down wind of the blast."_

"Are you sure there's no way we can reestablish communications with the base?"

"_We've tried, sir. There aren't any landlines for obvious security reasons. We can only assume that the UNSC's own ECCM has failed and the Covenant have jammed communications. Sir, the last communique warned of a biological threat from the Forerunner structure, we need to send the bomber in now."_

The president had only a cursory briefing about the capabilities of the Flood, that coupled with the Covenant threat made his next decision the hardest of his young presidency.

"General, tell the bomber..." he swallowed before continuing "they have a go."

"_Understood. I suggest we also begin taking steps to ready the country for reprisals from the fleet in orbit; activating the Guard and grounding air traffic."_

"Get started," the president replied, "keep me apprised of any developments. And keep trying to get through to Area 51."

With a salute, Denning winked off the screen.

"Its the right decision, sir," the president's Chief of staff told him.

"That's what they kept telling Truman," the president replied.

**

* * *

**

April 30, 2009

**location: somewhere in the Nevada desert- Forerunner complex**

Kyle had ran as fast as he could until he could get a message to the surface telling Captain Williams they had a Flood infestation. Kyle knew his shots hadn't done enough damage to the former SEALs that another infection form couldn't come along and revive the bodies. They'd most likely be merged into a pure form, something Kyle might have trouble holding off.

"Reclaimer, I'm afraid I mist implement level 10 infection containment protocols on this instillation immediately."

"That's fine, Flash. Lets concentrate on making sure the Flood doesn't follow us up."

"I have already begun sealing the passages behind us and have deactivated all gravity lifts to the lower levels. Without more power I cannot effect full quarantine of the lower levels I'm afraid. To that end I am recalling all available sentinels from the surface."

"Kyle stopped in his tracks in the hall, Are you crazy? Without those the forces on the surface will be slaughtered."

"I will leave the enforcer sentinels due to their size makes them unable to get inside in a timely manner. The others are necessary if you wish the Flood to be contained on the lower levels."

"Damnit," Kyle swore under his breath, "fine have them come in and take care of this quickly. Its not going to matter if we kill the Flood only for the Covenant to burst in on us."

Kyle resumed his run through the myriad of corridors until he finally arrived on the level containing the infirmary, one of the remaining SEALs was standing guard outside it. His mother, Marc and Kelly were still inside, Kelly lying on a bed being examined by a device situated at the head of the bed and connected to one of the monitors on the wall. Marc had swapped his hospital scrubs for a set of military fatigues brought down from the surface. Kyle quickly sighted the case Kelly brought down and snatched it up.

"Kyle, what's wrong?" Marlyn asked.

"I'm afraid we have a a Flood contamination in this facility, lady" Flash replied to her instead.

"We need to move upstairs, the control room is our best bet," Kyle said as he set the case down for a moment. By this time the lone SEAL had come into the room and Kyle was forced to explain what had happened to Commander Madison and the rest of his team.

"Jesus," the soldier muttered, "we..we gotta call the surface."

"No, the monitor can deal with it, last thing we need are valuable troops being brought down here to contain the Flood. We don't want to deal with the Covenant down here either."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" The SEAL asked frantically.

"Listen, take the kid upstairs to the control room and you and your buddy guard it. You see anything that doesn't look like us, you shoot. Simple enough?"

"Damn straight, man," the SEAL said before motioning for Marc to follow him. The teenager crossed the room before chirping to Kyle, "Flood, seriously? Why are you such a danger magnet." He quickly followed the soldier out of the room and to relative safety. Kyle then turned his attention to his mother who was monitoring Kelly.

"Is it true?" She asked grimly, Kyle could only nod his head.

"Oh god," Marlyn cried, "not again. I remember some of the darkest conflicts of the war, I can't do that again. We need to stop them."

Flash hovered next to her head and in a surprisingly kindly voice said, "Rest assured, Lady Marlyn, infection protocols have already been put into place and the sentinels are being routed in as we speak. The Flood will not take this complex so long as I am synced to its operating system."

"Well that's the most courageous stance I've heard from a monitor, well ever," Kalmiya commented.

"However for your own safety I recommend we evacuate this area immediately due to its proximity to the infected areas."

"We'll go as soon as we're done," Kyle said, "we are almost done, right?"

Marlyn sighed, "I've injected Kelly with the medical nanites, they'll inspect the brain tissue to see if her memories can be recovered. She's been rendered unconscious for the duration."

"I hate to rush you..."

The monitor suddenly began wailing, "reclaimer, internal systems below this level have just failed. Possibility that the parasite is sabotaging systems is ninety-nine point six percent likely."

"Mom, we need to help her, now."

Marlyn looked up from the console with a less than enthusiastic look.

"What is it?" Kyle asked.

"The scans are incomplete, I can't tell for certain if there are even memories to recover at this point."

It hit Kyle like a ton of bricks, the possibility hadn't been entirely on his mind, he always knew it could happen. He though that with all this danger and peril he was facing, there might be one small miracle to help turn the tide. It wasn't meant to be.

"There has to be something left, just something!" Kyle stammered. You have to save her."

"I'm not a doctor, I can barely understand half the data its showing, but the part I do understand is that her neurons are functioning like they're brand new. It could mean any number of things; she might have her memories and she might not."

"No, no she remembered certain things back on the _Spirit_," Kyle said, "she couldn't have forgotten everything!"

"Kyle, I don't know what to tell you, I'm not a doctor."

"Reclaimer, we must leave this level before the Flood can access it," the monitor said impatiently.

"Wake her up. Now."

Marlyn entered commands into the controls and walked over to Kelly's bedside. Kyle also joined her and helped Kelly up as she stirred.

"I guess it didn't work?" She asked Kyle.

"No," Kyle said. He looked into her eyes and caught a brief glimmer of disappointment, but at the same time it didn't look like she was phased by the outcome, despite her body language.

"We need to move upstairs, so just stick close to me," Kyle said to her.

Kelly nodded in agreement and got out of bed, as she walked to the door Kyle picked up the case. His mother was just about to ask about its contents when Kyle thrust one of his sidearms into her hands.

"Just in case," he muttered.

Marlyn nodded in agreement and Kyle took the rear while the monitor led the group up through the myriad of passages and levels until they arrived near the control room. Kyle took the lead and as they neared a corner in the corridor he yelled "Star!"

"Texas" came a reply.

Kyle motioned for the rest of the group to follow him around the corner where the two SEALs, standing guard at the door to the control room, were lowering their weapons. They waved Kyle and his group into the room and returned to their vigilant duty. Kyle set the case down against a wall and walked over to Halsey who was still busy at the main console.

"How's it coming?"

"Good actually. This neutrino-ion reactor's power levels are off the scale, and it isn't even at full power yet!" Halsey was marveling at the practical treasure trove of Forerunner technology despite the new danger they faced with the Flood infestation.

"What about the weapons?" Kyle asked.

"The combat sentinels might be ready to launch in 20 minutes or so," Halsey said.

"Do anything you can to speed that up, same goes for you," Kyle said as he wagged his finger at the monitor.

"Kyle" his mother said as she pointed to the commotion going on outside. Kyle went to the control room door and saw multiple US soldiers streaming past, their fatigues identified them as Air Force SFs. Leading the group was none other than Lieutenant Colonel Mitchell, the base commander.

"What are you doing?" Kyle asked him.

"Taking care of that Flood problem your Navy buddies were telling us over the radio about," gesturing to the two Navy SEALs. "Now if you'll excuse us."

"Why the hell are you trying to face the Flood head on, haven't you been told what they are?"

"It beats guarding a bunch of empty buildings that are going to be vaporized anyway. Least down here we have a chance at surviving a direct hit."

With that, Mitchell ran off to join his men. The SEALs stayed to guard the control room as Kyle was tempted to join the Colonel, but knew he was on a suicide mission to buy Kyle's group time to save Earth. In the end, Kyle knew the control room stood a better chance at remaining safe with a Spartan guarding it. Kyle returned to the room.

"Reclaimer, my sentinels have entered the complex and will assist the local forces in eradicating the Flood infection."

"Maybe they'll stand a better chance after all," Kyle said aloud.

"However we must discuss contingency plans in the event this course of action fails."

"What do you have in mind?"

"The only other option to contain the outbreak is to use the neutron purge function," the monitor said.

"Neutron purge?"

"The neutrino-ion reactor will release a concentration of neutron radiation particles sufficient to kill all Flood inside the complex. This process however is also fatal to all other organic life forms. The radiation will be contained inside the complex and there is no danger to the surface."

"Can you put it on a time delay?"

"I'm afraid to ensure against the possibility of it being deactivated, the purge will be triggered moments after the order is given, and that order can only come from this room. Yourself, another reclaimer or Lady Marlyn are the only ones capable of activating it."

"In other words, someone is going to need to stay behind to ensure it goes off?"

"Precisely," the monitor answered.

"Plan B then" Kyle said as he walked over to the case and cracked it open. Inside was the familiar half sphere shape of a HAVOK tactical nuke. Kyle gingerly pulled the device out and began inspecting it. Marc, who was leaning against a wall saw Kyle and the nuke, and using Kyle's memories deduced what it was.

"Oh why do I feel like I'm in a MacGruber skit?" He muttered to himself.

**

* * *

**

April 30, 2009

**location: somewhere in the Nevada desert, Area 51**

They waited.

After loading up on ordinance and ammo the Spartans and the marines ran for the closest trench they could find. The scarab was coming ever closer along with its ground force. Since they were flying too low for flak guns to hit them, all the AA batteries were being repositioned to fire as the Covenant 's air forces flew close formation with their ground force.

"_All forces, this is Captain Williams, stand by on the mines."_

As they retreated from the second defense line, UNSC forces had laid an assortment of LOTUS mines to slow the Covenant advance. As the Covenant entered range, and concern over the Covenant finding one or two, Williams sent the signal from the firebase to detonate the mines. A dozen smoke plumes and in a few cases the fire of explosions bellowed up from the ground in front of the Covenant force. Before the smoke cleared it was swatted aside by the main gun of the scarab as it swept the ground in front of it. The beam then began moving toward the defense line and started cutting swaths of destruction in the trenches, instantly vaporizing the defenders within._"Shit, they hit the CP!_" Was one of many frantic cries that had come through the com channel. With it, Fred knew Lieutenant Elliot had been killed, and command had effectively fallen to him.

"This is Spartan-104, I'm assuming tactical command. Cobras, weapons free, open fire on all targets of opportunity."

The remaining Cobras had all been positioned, despite having only three armed. Hopefully the Covenant would target the unarmed ones in the hopes of drawing fire from the armed ones. A dozen shots rang out and struck a dozen targets, a couple even went for the scarab. Despite the loss of another few Wraiths and Choppers along with some minor damage to the scarab, the Covenant continued to press on towards the trenches.

"All forces open fire" Fred ordered as he gripped his own assault rifle and began firing into the Covenant force. The Covenant in turn began firing as well, and despite their reduced numbers they fought with an increased vigor as plasma mortars rained down. Snipers on both sides began picking off one another's troops. What few Warthogs and Humvees were on the battlefield began firing at their Covenant counterparts, tanks also doing the same. When the two sides troops finally clashed, the result was bloody. The Brutes overwhelmed the outlying trenches which were undermanned due to bombardment casualties, and thus they quickly gained ground on the Marines.

David Stevens was still with his team in the Spartan's trench when the Covenant made a push deep into the UNSC lines. Raising his SCAR-H over the top of the trench and promptly opened fire on a pack of grunts that were running towards their position.

"Damn things are more rabid then before," Maria commented on the Grunts as she put down two.

"They've been living under the Brutes for a while, I'm not surprised," Linda replied.

"Stevens, give me a hand with this, I need a spotter Florence said to the corporal as he hefted a SPNKr and prepared to use it. David removed his binoculars from his vest and began sighting for a target of opportunity. Florence sighted down the scope of the launcher and was surprised to see it had already calculated the bearing of a nearby target, a Wraith tank.

"_Hmm, slimmer version of a Javelin"_ Florence mused, comparing the difference between the UNSC weapon and its bulky 21st century counterpart.

"Forget what I said, Corporal, cover your ears."

Florence let loose two rockets that promptly struck the Wraith in quick succession, destroying the Covenant tank. Florence dropped the empty launcher and picked up his SCAR-H, firing at the Covenant. This scene was repeated across a dozen trenches as the Marines tried desperately to combat the Covenant vehicles now that their Cobras were out of ammo. Scorpions made up some of the difference, and to a minor degree their US counterparts, but it wasn't enough. The scarab had been slowly walking forward the entire time until it had reached the edge of the trenches, once in position, it fired its main weapon and cut a swath through the entire defense line destroying men and vehicles alike. With the defense line effectively bisected, the main Covenant force began to pour through into the relatively undefended Area 51.

"Captain Williams, they've broke through," Fred said into the COM as the defense slowly began to crumble before him.

**XXX**

"We see them, Lieutenant. Rally whoever your can and stage a counter attack ASAP."

In the firebase, Williams and Major Stevens watched the feed from the external cameras as the Covenant force rallied around their scarab and pushed onto the Groom dry lake. A separate force immediately split off from the main group and made its way towards the hangers and buildings of Area 51. The Scarab and the rest of the Covenant force set their sights on the only other target they could see, the firebase.

"Is this place rated to survive that thing's main gun?" Alan asked.

"Not even close." Williams began shifting COM frequencies until she found the air dispatch one, "flight one, go, go go!"

On the south side of the base, three UNSC Vultures lifted off and quickly accelerated toward the firebase. The scarab saw their approach and decided they were the greater threat; orienting itself to face the oncoming aircraft, it fired its main weapon. One of the Vultures took it head on, getting blown to pieces in a matter of seconds. The pilots of the other two quickly primed their main armament of ANVIL missiles and began firing their forward cannons. The shells causes small explosions to ripple across the Scarab as it fired its main weapon again, catching another Vulture. The beam of plasma quickly switched to the third Vulture, but not before the pilot depressed the trigger on his joystick firing the six missiles on the aircraft's back, moments before being vaporized along with his cockpit.

The missiles however struck the Scarab, one scoring a lucky hit in the passageway to the cockpit of the walker, ripping it open. The Scarab could only be described as headless as it boasted a massive hole where its cockpit and main gun had been, spewing plasma and sparks. The walker wobbled for a minute before collapsing on its legs and it was shortly destroyed as its main reactor's containment gave out. The firebase was not out of the woods yet as the remaining Covenant force was still sufficient to roll over the small structure and take the rest of Area 51 with ease. Two Grizzlies, manned by Douglas and Jerome were all that stood in their way. However they were soon joined by the few Enforcer Sentinels that the monitor had brought with him from the shipyard.

"Where the hell are the rest of those little robots, there were supposed to be dozens!" Williams was pissed, but also scared at the same time. Alan couldn't blame her, he was a little of both too. The Major gripped the holotable as the first stray impact hit the firebase. He could hear the distant thud of the auto-turrets as they returned fire.

**XXX**

"Gotcha!" Tom cried as he took down the last Brute in their area. Blue team had fanned out under Fred's orders and had begun mopping up straggling Covenant still caught in the myriad of trenches that made up the battered and breached defense line. UNSC and the few US forces quickly extracted themselves from the trenches and assessed their ammo situation. With their staging area destroyed by the Covenant advance, the Marines and Army personnel had to scrounge off the dead for ammo, a few UNSC resorting to pilfering Covenant weapons.

Fred was still in his trench with Maria, Linda, Cassandra and the Haz-Team, letting the two snipers assist in the cleanup efforts while Fred consulted with the surviving platoon leaders over the COM.

"Stevens, look!" Corporal Parker cried to David as they looked out on the battle progressing on the Groom lakebed. David watched as the the Covenant scarab was destroyed by a suicide charge of three Vultures. Cheers rang out across the trenches as Marines raised their weapons into the air in brief celebration. Florence heard the cries, but instead turned to Fred who had just finished his conversation.

"Most of our men have been badly wounded, we're at a little over half strength," Fred admitted bluntly.

"Our guys can look after your wounded, you have the experience fighting those things. It should be you going back in there," Florence replied to the Spartan.

"From what we know that nuke is still on its way here, tell your men to head north with the wounded, the way the Covenant came. You might make it out in time."

"I'll round up whatever vehicles I can find, good luck." Florence extended his hand which Fred took. After a brief shake the two parted company and the Haz-Team began collecting the wounded.

"Boss, you really think we can get out of here in time?" Parker asked.

"After everything I've seen today, I don't know," Florence replied as he helped a UNSC Marine out of a trench.

David looked on at the Marines that were pouring out of the trenches and following the Spartans straight into the battle.

Straight into hell.

**XXX**

Fred's group was quickly met by a picket force of a Wraith and half a dozen Brutes. Before they could engage, the Wraith suddenly stopped and fell straight to the ground, before exploding shortly after. Two Brutes were killed in the blast and another was skewered by a plasma sword that appeared out of thin air; the remaining Brutes were dispatched promptly by Linda. The Master Chief de-cloaked and his steal generator gave a spark before dying for good.

"Chief, we thought you had been on that Scarab," Fred said.

"I managed to get out in time and I hitched a ride on that Wraith," he replied, "I saw what the last Scarab did, what's your plan?"

"Counter attack, hopefully we can wedge ourselves between the Covenant and the base and push them to the east," motioning to the Marines and few vehicles behind him. "First things first, we need to save the firebase."

**XXX**

"I'm afraid you're too little too late with that counter offensive, Lieutenant" Williams said as she dodged a hail of sparks, "the firebase is lost, get your men out of here I'm sending in the Pelicans. We'll have to hope the nukes will take care of the Covenant force."

"_Understood, Captain."_

Alan ducked as a piece of the ceiling fell down after a banshee scored a lucky hit. It was soon dispatched by one of the quad barreled defense guns. The forward two guns were running low on ammo, a situation that had forced Jerome and Douglas to retreat leaving the Enforcer Sentinels to try and hold back the Covenant, two of which had been destroyed already.

"All personnel, evacuate the firebase immediately!" Williams said over the COM.

The technicians quickly dropped what they were doing and proceeded to the door while Williams pulled open a panel on the floor revealing a red lever. "Help me with this" she said to Alan. He rushed over to her position and helped pull the leaver up. All the screens in the ops center shut off and began displaying a simple countdown of four minutes. Alarms accompanied the countdown.

"Self-destruct should take care of the Covenant if they get close enough," Williams said, "come on, we gotta go."

Alan followed Williams out of the ops center and down the hall, passing the small elevator that lead to the garage.

"What exactly is our exit plan here?" Alan asked as they weaved through pieces of broken metal and more wires.

"There's an elephant parked behind the landing pad. Its slow but armored, it should get us safely away."

The pair ran until they reached the back of the firebase. An emergency escape hatch had been opened by the evacuating personnel who were in the process of climbing down the ladder that led up to the escape hatch. Williams bounded down the ladder followed by Alan and another Marine. Just as Williams reached the bottom, there was an explosion above Alan that knocked him off the ladder and onto his back. The eviscerated body of the Marine following Alan down landed next to him. The hard impact on the ground left Alan dazed, but he could see Williams firing her sidearm at a large creature carrying some type of heavy looking weapon. Alan recognized them from a cursory briefing and his own research into Halo; the Brutes.

The brute, enraged by Williams' actions charged her and tackled the Marine Captain into the staircase leading to the landing pads. She gave a loud grunt on impact and coughed up blood; the Brute marched over to her and prepared to skewer her on his Brute shot's blade. Alan was still dazed, but he reached for his own side arm and pulled it free from its holster, taking aim he fired his entire clip at the Brute, most of the shots going wide. He succeeded in drawing the giant alien's attention as it let out a roar and charged towards him. Alan tried desperately to try and stand up into some sort of fighting stance, but thankfully he didn't have to. The Brute was suddenly forced into the ground by the impact of a Spartan that had jumped from the landing pad. The Brute's spine had been thoroughly crushed, killing it instantly.

"You ok?" Alice asked Alan.

"Fine... help her," Alan's breathing was strained as he pointed to Williams who was still sprawled out on the stairs. Alice gingerly picked up the Captain, who cried out in pain which only emphasized the severity of her injuries. Alan had managed to pick himself up, and although he was still dizzy he managed to summon enough strength to follow Alice around to the elephant parked behind the landing pads. The remaining staff from the firebase were crammed inside the bulky vehicle and quickly cleared a space for Alice to place Williams down. Alan managed to get aboard just as the engine rumbled to life and began to carry the survivors away from the firebase.

"Biofoam, now!" Alice said to a Marine who quickly removed his backpack and produced the canister. Alice quickly inserted the tip into Williams' chest cavity and filled it with the healing polymer. Alice finished her work and walked into the cockpit while Alan knelt by Williams' side.

"You owe me one," she said to him.

"I saved you from being skewered, consider us even," Alan replied just as the Elephant shook from the impact of pieces of the now destroyed firebase.

"The blast damaged the Covenant force, looks like we won't have trouble getting out of here," Alice called out from the cockpit.

"Major," Williams croaked, "I just wanna say you're less of an ass then I thought."

"I'll take that as a complement," Alan chuckled, "I hope that foam stuff can hold you together until we can reach a hospital.

"I've had worse," Williams replied.

As the fled the base Alan could only wonder how worse it was going to get for the people trapped in Area 51, his son included.

**

* * *

**

April 30, 2009

**location: Earth orbit- UNSC _Spirit of Fire_**

Cutter watched the holotable with interest as the _Spirit's_ sensors indicated the Covenant fleet was pulling back towards a lunar orbit, effectively cutting their ground force off from any potential reinforcements. The _Spirit_ was now coordinating with the _Light of Truth_ on their next strike against the Covenant that hopefully would eliminate most of the ships. The problem they were working out was the limited nuclear arsenal the _Spirit_ possessed.

"We have one Shiva warhead, Captain, it should be prioritized for the assault carrier."

"I agree, Serina, however if we engage the assault carrier we'll need to hold off its escorts. The Shiva's yield might be enough to weaken their shields so the _Light of Truth_ can punch through with their plasma lances."

Cutter was no Admiral, he had the basic training on fleet deployments that every command officer received, but that was it. What was worse was that for all intents and purposes he was commanding an oversized transport. The Forerunner technology had made up in some of the ship's weaknesses, however the lack of proper weapons was a weakness Cutter was trying to overcome. They no longer had the element of surprise despite being invisible at the moment. The Covenant was on guard. The remaining thirteen Covenant ships had broken up into small battlegroups positioned around the _Unyielding Apocalypse_.

"The _Light of Truth_ could possibly decloak first and draw the carrier's escorts away."

"That might work," Cutter pondered as Serina ran a quick simulation on the holotable. The results gave the _Spirit_ a 90 second window to attack the assault carrier. Cutter deemed the plan worthy and ordered Serina to implement it. Cutter released the safeties on the Shiva warhead and ordered it armed. Orders were relayed to the Light of Truth which then took position near the escorts. The battlecruiser decloaked and immediately attacked its enemy counterparts, which as Serina predicted gave chase. However the assault carrier also powered up and began following its escorts, releasing scores of fighters to assist. The _Spirit_ was traveling roughly parallel to the carrier when it turned upward to follow the _Light of Truth_. The _Spirit_ shimmered into view and released a sole Shiva missile at close range; this part of the plan was the riskiest. In order for the missile to be not shot down, it had to be fired close enough that the automated defenses couldn't lock on in time, this however put the _Spirit_ in the blast zone; the plan now hinged on the Forerunner shields.

The missile struck the Covenant carrier amidships, and the blast engulfed the_ Spirit_, knocking the vessel around. The Forerunner shield however held up against the powerful anti-ship nuke. The carrier's shields were practically non existent. The carrier wasted no time in powering up its plasma torpedoes as the UNSC ship oriented itself to fire its MAC gun. In the end, the _Spirit_ struck first with the MAC slug traveling through the length that connected the bulbous prow to the engine/hanger section. Secondary explosions in that area completely severed the front of the ship from the aft and the two sections were left to drift. The _Light of Truth_ damaged one of its pursuers before cloaking and the Spirit soon followed suit; the Covenant now only had one assault carrier left.

**XXX**

"You are to find the human scum and their heretic allies immediately. I do not care if you must fire blindly into the void, kill them at once!"

The prophet had just ordered the execution of the previous Jiralhanae fleet master and had finished 'briefing' his successor. He was enraged that the Jiralhanae's incompetence in matters of fleet affairs had cost him another valuable ship, an assault carrier no less. Contact had also been lost with the force on the surface, however they had reported they'd breached the humans' line of defense and were close to securing their prize. While the Jiralhanae's grasp of space combat was negligible, they were ferocious in ground combat and the prophet had no doubt they would succeed in the end. However whether or not they were around to claim the Forerunner ruin depended on whether or not the prophet could neutralize the two ships giving him so much trouble.

"If you constantly engage in replacing your subordinates, you might find that nothing will ever be accomplished," said the voice from the shadows.

"The fleet master failed me, its only right that he be replaced and punished for his incompetence."

"That may be true, but this change has not brought you closer to destroying your enemies."

"They are just as much your enemies as they are mine!" The prophet was in no mood to play games with his guest. "If this station is destroyed then you will perish along with me."

"I will assist you in such a simple task. The solution is to attack the human vessel, this will draw their allies out of hiding to assist. You can then crush them both."

"And _how_ do I do that?" The prophet's patience was wearing thin. He was prepared to simply bombard empty space until he struck one of the two ships.

"I require access to your sensors. To modify them to detect 'our' enemies."

The prophet was not happy about letting his _ally_ have access to the station's key systems, however sensors were something that the prophet desperately needed modified if he was to find the human ship. The prophet tapped a few commands into his chair and an interactive display of the main sensor systems appeared in front of him.

"The human vessel is most likely using Forerunner technologies to generate its shield and stealth. This means their shield is susceptible to attract large amounts of a certain sub atomic particle. These particles are a byproduct of large scale fusion events, such as the crude nuclear weapon that was detonated near their ship. Their ship is now coated with a generous amount of these particles, and those cannot be hidden by their stealth technology. All it takes is a simple reconfiguration."

He reconfigured the holograms which in turn instructed the scanners to scan for the certain particle. A visual feed came up and sure enough, the blurry, green outline of the _Spirit of Fire_ appeared. The prophet grinned, and began issuing orders to his fleet. He pressed his fingers together and watched as plasma torpedoes struck the aft section of the _Spirit_. Now things were going according to plan.

**XXX**

"The _Light of Truth_ is going to try and infiltrate the computer systems of one of the Covenant battlegroups. They say they have a prototype malware virus created using Forerunner coding. Should prove quite effective."

"Lets see if we can give them a distraction. Helm, bring us towards the station, I think its overdue for an attack."

Cutter returned to his chair to quickly plot a strafing run that would distract enough ships. At the same time two of the Covenant battlegroups closed in and charged their torpedoes. By the time Serena's sensors determined that it was likely that the Covenant had penetrated their stealth, the torpedoes were halfway to the ship.

"Captain! The stealth has been compromised!"

Cutter looked up from the datapad he was doing calculations and saw the blue plasma pass over the bridge and out of his line of sight. Serina overrode the helm control and activated the dorsal emergency thrusters in a last ditch attempt to push the _Spirit_ out of the way. The torpedoes simply tracked their target and struck the _Spirit's_ engineering section, causing massive damage to one of the two massive fusion generators. The cloak failed moments later as the damaged reactors triggered failures of the power distribution system aboard the stricken UNSC ship.

"Serina, switch to shield and return fire on the closest Covenant ship!"

The power hungry Forerunner shield generator struggled to form a complete field around the _Spirit_, but was unable to do so. The result was numerous 'holes' in the shield where it was severely weakened. Plasma torpedoes struck everywhere on the shield, but a few lucky shots penetrated these weak points and struck the vulnerable hull. On the bridge, a console exploded and caught the ensign manning it in the face. The remaining few bridge personnel tended to him, but their cries for a medic were drowned out over Serena's urgent damage report. Another strike ignited a small fire on the bridge as emergency personnel entered and tended to the wounded ensign while damage control extinguished the fire.

"Main reactor 1 is damaged, the chief engineer has had to flood the reaction chamber with coolant to prevent a meltdown. He's taking it offline. Reactor 2 is still functional but without the other one we can't power the shields fully."

"What about the MAC?" Cutter asked. The cannon was the _Spirit's_ only real defensive option.

"The shield is taking up all of our remaining power," Serina reported, "I can charge the MAC, but it will take several minutes, time we simply do not have."

Cutter ignored her brash stating of the obvious as he tried to get a handle on controlling the ship. The bridge staff returned to their stations and the helmsmen tried his best to pilot the _Spirit_ through the converging Covenant armada on reduced engine power. It looked as though the _Spirit_ was effectively boxed in by the encroaching Covenant ships.

"We'll still have to shoot our way out. Prepare deck guns and auto canons for fighter suppression and standby to fire Archer pods." Cutter knew damn well that their only option was to fight their way through the Covenant ships. Off in the distance the_ Light of Truth_ decloaked and began attacking the four ships that had yet to rendezvous for the attack on the _Spirit of Fire. _A few hits from plasma lances gutted one of the ships, however the remaining three ganged up on the_ Light of Truth_, and were soon joined by the _Unyielding_ _Apocalypse's_ own weapons. The defenders of Earth were now helpless, and it seemed that the planet would soon fall to a much greater Covenant force than the one on the surface.

**

* * *

**

April 30, 2009

**Location: somewhere in the Nevada desert- Forerunner complex**

Aside from Kyle and Kelly, no one else in the room could hear the distant gunshots as the air force SFs engaged the Flood. Kelly didn't understand what was really going on, but was still worried. Kyle on the other hand, was seriously concerned. There had been an explosion consistent with a few grenades a few minutes earlier, that everyone had heard. Since then, the sounds of gunfire were slowly dropping off, until Kyle heard just a few gunshots, and then no more.

"Flash, we need those Sentinels, now," Kyle said.

"I'm afraid they entered the facility some time ago. They've been engaged with the parasite on multiple levels. Attack patterns indicate that the parasite is being coordinated by a proto-intelligence. I must also report on a situation developing in orbit of the planet."

On the main display, a tactical map appeared showing the position of every ship around the Earth. The icon that was identified as the _Spirit of Fire_ was surrounded by Covenant icons, while the _Light of Truth_ was likewise engaged.

"We have to activate the Sentinels," Halsey stated.

"The reactor is just reaching optimal output..."

The monitor was harshly cut off by Kyle who said "get them up there!"

"Initiating slipspace projector, standing by on subspace power transfer," the monitor began listing another dozen start up procedures. Kyle gathered everyone in the room together and began giving instructions.

"I'm gonna stay behind and make sure that fleet is destroyed. I'll arm the nuke and then follow you up; make sure there's a Pelican waiting for me. I have no idea how much of the explosion will be absorbed by the complex itself."

Marlyn was the first to reject his plan, "Kyle, that's way too risky. If the Flood get past the Sentinels..."

"Then I'll stop them. I only need to hold them off long enough to arm the nuke. Its tamper proof so there's no chance of them disarming it." Kyle was adamant about his plan.

"I will remain, reclaimer," the monitor said, "my onboard weapon systems are far superior to your own. I can guard the control room while you and your companions escape to the surface."

"I appreciate that, but I need to make absolutely sure the nuke isn't tampered with for as long as possible. Go, now."

Marc was the first one out of the room and to the waiting SEALs who were to escort them to the surface. Marlyn gave a quick nod to her son as she too left the room. Halsey muttered "good luck" to him as she was leaving. That only left Kelly.

"Let me stay and help you," she asked.

"Absolutely not," if she hadn't suffered amnesia, then maybe, just maybe Kyle would have considered her request. Not with the state she was in; he didn't even know if she could remember how to use a handgun even.

"I can help," Kelly protested.

"You don't have armor, or a weapon, I don't even know if you remember your training. The best thing you can do is head for the surface, now."

Kelly knew she wasn't going to make him budge, and so she left to join the others. Kyle sighed and finished assembling the HAVOK nuke, attaching it to the far wall and inserting the detonator card, programed for remote detonation.

"Test signal went through the relay and to the surface ok," Kalmiya reported. "You made the right call with Kelly."

"I know, but that determination of hers, it showed. She's gotta still be in there somewhere, Kalmiya."

"Once we deal with the Covenant and get back to our Earth I'm sure the doctors there can help her," Kalmiya was doing all she could to reassure Kyle things were going to turn out ok.

"Reclaimer, I am launching the combat, Sentinels."

The wall that looked out into the storage room became transparent and Kyle watched the process with great interest. The metal rods and the gold balls were commanded by some force to rise up and combine in mid air into the configuration Kyle saw on Onyx. Suddenly, a ripple appeared in the ceiling that resolved into a small, black ball with blue energy rippling across it; a slipspace portal. The sentinels started flying through, and straight into battle. For now, Kyle could only guard the nuke.

**XXX**

The Master Chief had volunteered to go back into the base and get Kyle's group out before the Covenant completely overran Area 51. Right now what was left of the Covenant force had moved on from the remains of the UNSC firebase and were now ransacking the outer hangers, drawing slowly closer to the secret building with the main elevator. The Chief knew that Kyle would evacuate everyone first and let the sentinels deal with the recently discovered Flood threat. All the Chief had to do was hold the elevator building long enough for Kyle to get his group out.

"Cortana, I need to know the enemy positions."

"I'm working on it chief, but your MJOLNIR motion tracker isn't the best equipment for the job."

Cortana was piecing together the Covenant forces movement through Area 51 with sporadic contact readings from the Master Chief's motion tracker. Using a few algorithms she wrote for tactical planning, Cortana generated a rough outline of the Covenant battle plan and estimated how much time they had before the Brutes reached the far side of the base. Seven minutes.

A countdown timer appeared on the chief's HUD to that effect. The Chief eventually reached the building containing the elevator and set up on and adjacent one, unpacking the sniper rifle he borrowed from Maria. He had only two magazines though; ammo was hard to come by with the loss of the staging area and they didn't have the time to search and strip dead UNSC snipers for bullets. Fred had given the Master Chief fifteen minutes to get in and set up an extraction site for a Pelican to come in and evac everyone; while he and the remaining Spartans got everyone to safety to the north for Pelican extraction. Fred was also optimistic if they even had fifteen minutes due to the fact a US stealth bomber was close nearby with orders to nuke the base.

"Chief, contacts inbound!" Cortana warned.

The Chief sighted down the scope to see a dozen Covenant come marching down the road and blow apart the doors to the elevator building, almost five minutes early.

"Cortana, I thought we had more time."

"I did the best I could with the resources at hand, chief."

"It doesn't matter, see if you can contact Kyle through the radio relay, I'll clear the door."

With that, the chief began firing on the Brutes leading the group. Two shots and the leader's shields were gone and his power armor fried, another quick shot to the head started a confusion that the Master Chief took advantage of with a few quick grenade lobs into their formation. Another four Covenant dead and the chief's position was exposed to the survivors who quickly returned fire as they dashed inside. The chief leaped down from the building and killed two grunts who were lagging behind. Unfortunately the Brutes had melted part of the elevator floor away and had jumped the 15 or so feet to the lower level with the rest of their entourage, the Chief was only able to stop a late jackal who was covering the Brute's entry.

"Do we follow them?" Cortana asked.

"No, signal the evac Pelican. We need to hold this building for as long as possible. Kyle's gonna have to fight his way out now."

**XXX**

"This way," the lead SEAL said, who was leading the group of civilians alongside his surviving teammate to the elevators up to the main lobby and the surface access. They had cleared the Forerunner complex safely and without encountering the Flood. Now they navigated the empty research labs on their way to the surface.

"This place looks nothing like the one in Independence Day," Marc commented.

"That makes two of us," one of the SEALs said, the UNSC group didn't get the reference but didn't care either way.

"Just make sure you don't talk about what you see here, kid," the other SEAL warned Marc.

Marc couldn't agree more, "Believe me, I don't want to remember these past few days. You'll get no complaints from me."

"This is it," the lead SEAL said as hie pointed to a set of three elevator doors at the end of the hall. They ran the rest of the distance and pressed all three call buttons, hoping for a speedy arrival of a elevator car.

"Are we gonna have a way out of here once we get to the surface?" Marlyn asked.

"Fred most likely has a Pelican and a guard force on the surface for us" Halsey replied, "we'll be safe."

A soft chime signaled the arrival of the middle elevator, however when it opened a brute and two grunts stepped out. The two SEALs quickly opened fire on the grunts, but ducked when the brute laid down a spread of spiker rounds. Kelly had dived in the opposite direction and was positioned behind the Brute. Without even thinking about it, she sprang up from the floor, jumped and delivered a kick to the brute's back that damaged it's power armor. The brute spun around, but this proved to be a fatal mistake as the SEALs discharged their weapons into the brute's legs. The massive beast went down and the SEALs pounced, firing point blank into its ugly head. They were silent for a moment before a painful yelp drew their attention. Marc hadn't been so lucky as he was now pinned to the wall with a spiker round through his shoulder.

"Get it out!" He screamed.

Halsey and Marlyn were the first to his side, Halsey pulling a small pouch from her bag and pulling out a pen sized syringe. She pressed it to Marc's neck and injected a high power pain killer into his bloodstream.

"It hurts!" He kept screaming.

"Hold on, it takes a few seconds," Halsey reassured.

True to her word, Marc's face changed from one of twisted pain to a more calm, but still frightened.

"Jeez, they don't lie about morphine" Marc said almost in a haze, thankfully the adrenaline was keeping him lucid.

"We have to pull it out, the lead," SEAL said, "we can't stay here."

"I wish it was that easy, but the spiker round is pressed against a vital artery I believe. If we pull it out the rough surface of the spike will almost certainly cut it open. He'll bleed to death in minutes." Halsey's prognosis only made Marc's dull pain worse.

"Oh no, get this cut or something. I don't wanna die!"

"If I had biofoam I could stabilize him until we got to a hospital," Halsey said

"We'll use our field tourniquets," one of the SEALs said as he reached into his vest. Unfortunately neither of them were looking when the other two elevators finally reached their floor, and one wasn't empty. One of the SEALs dropped as a carbine round struck him in the back. Two jackals, two brutes and a lone grunt emerged, firing.

"In the elevator, now!" the surviving SEAL screamed as he dove into the empty elevator car. Halsey and Marlyn were forced to abandon Marc and run for the elevator, however Kelly was cut off by the Jackals and grunt, the brutes were having trouble getting through the elevator doors at the same time. Kelly panicked and ran back the way they came, her speed assured a quick getaway.

"Kelly!" Halsey called out as the elevator doors closed and the car began its ascent. The two brutes had managed to force themselves free meanwhile.

"Pursue the female, she is most likely going back to the holy relic. Find her and kill her! Then claim our prize!" the lead brute said to its companion who took the jackals and grunt. Meanwhile the lone brute turned its attention to Marc who was trapped and utterly helpless.

"Oh god no! Please don't! Ahhhh!" Marc shrieked in terror as the brute slowly stalked up to him, its brute shot blade poised to eviscerate the helpless teenager. However, the brute overlooked the fact the SEAL that had been shot was still alive. He was paralyzed from the waist down and close to death from radiation poisoning from the carbine round, but had enough strength to pull out and prime a grenade. With a final breath he let the explosive roll towards the brute where it bumped into its foot. Looking down, he realized what it was just before it went off, killing the brute and sparing Marc a slow, painful death, but still didn't survive none the less.

**

* * *

**

April 30, 2009

**Location: Space between Earth and the Moon - UNSC _Spirit of Fire_**

"Serina I need options!"

The _Spirit_ was taking a severe pounding and shooting their way out proved impossible after a lucky hit disabled the ship's sub light engines.

"Shields are weakening below ten percent, hull integrity also isn't looking better. I estimate we can survive only another three... Captain, slipspace rupture to port."

Cutter looked to port to see dozens of sentinels of an unknown configuration emerge and immediately begin firing on the Covenant ships. Several of them formed up into a formation and combined the energies of their main weapon in a blast that gutted the last assault carrier. The Covenant fleet was utterly helpless as they faced the power of their very own 'gods'.

"Serina, get us clear of the battle," Cutter ordered.

With whatever power that was left in their sublights along with maneuvering thrusters, the battered UNSC ship limped away from the carnage. The _Light of Truth_ was also able to break away as the Covenant realized what the greater threat was.

**XXX**

"It seems these humans aren't so primitive and helpless as you thought"

That voice wreaked of a taunt and the prophet knew it. His fleet's destruction was all but assured thanks to the timely intervention of Forerunner combat sentinels. It also meant that the humans had full control of the facility on the surface and any hope of harvesting its technologies was impossible. Quickly, the prophet began entering commands into his chair that would be relayed to the station's navigational bridge. He ordered a jump closer to earth for a final strike against the planet with the station's weapons.

A massive slipspace rupture swallowed the_ Unyielding Apocalypse_ and spat it out a few seconds and several hundred thousand kilometers away, right above the Earth. The _Light of Truth_ already broke away to follow and was being escorted by a flotilla of Sentinels. The Unyielding Apocalypse was scanning for a large and heavily populated city to strike first and had their sights set on Honolulu, Hawaii as their orbital path took them over the pacific ocean. Little did they know that all the US pacific fleet's ballistic missile carrying submarines were on high alert, and one was in a position to strike. When NORAD detected the station's approach they contacted the navy and set things in motion. The sub quickly cruised to launch depth and unleashed three of its Trident D5 missiles, each carrying a whopping six nuclear warheads. Twelve nukes now sped towards their target, and the people on the ground were unsure if their strike would succeed.

"They launch primitive weapons against you."

"Those primitive weapons successfully destroyed many of my vessels, however even their yield will not easily bring down such an immense target. I will burn their cities from above and swat their missiles from the sky."

A signal from the ground force diverted his attention as a brute, not the appointed field master, contacted him.

"_Holy prophet, our force has been smashed by the humans but they are in retreat. Their outpost is ours and we will soon have the complex of the forerunners."_

"They already control the complex and its value, you have failed. Take what you can return to whatever ships you have and make for orbit immediately."

"_As you wish."_

"Things are not going well for you it seems."

"If you continue to blatantly point out the obvious then you will have no more place in my presence!" The prophet was no longer in the mood for his ally's games.

"You've failed to secure the Forerunner and failed to secure the complex. Its high time to cut your losses and leave, you still have the crystal to return to your own _time_."

The prophet admitted to himself that the situation was dire, and planned to use the crystal as soon as the phantoms returned with survivors. He would sooner abandon them, but with his fleet destroyed, he would need those soldiers in the coming days.

**XXX**

"I'm detecting a few dropships exiting the upper atmosphere, five in total. They're all on course for the station. The missiles launched by the US Navy are still on course and will impact in five minutes assuming they're not shot down. The _Light of Truth_ will intercept in three minutes. The dropships will be aboard in two."

"Keep us moving away from the Covenant fleet, we don't need them becoming bold and taking a shot at us. I need a damage report ASAP."

Cutter didn't know how badly damaged his ship was and partly didn't want to know. However the damage to the _Spirit_ was the least of his worries.

"Sir, the Sentinels have gone inactive."

"What do you mean inactive?"

"They're adrift, no power readings and they're definitely not firing on the Covenant fleet."

Granted there was no more fleet to speak of, only a heavily damaged Covenant destroyer had survived the Sentinels' onslaught. They still had the Covenant station to deal with.

"Divert what power you can to the engines and charge the MAC. If we ave any nukes left I want them primed and loaded. We have to destroy the station ourselves."

"I don't think that's necessary, I'm picking up a radiation surge consistent with a crystal activation," Serina reported.

Shortly after the drop ships boarded, there was a bright flash and the Unyielding Apocalypse vanished completely from earth orbit. The _Light of Truth_ slowed to a halt and half a dozen small flashes signaled the safe destruction of the inbound nukes. It was over, the battle was as good as over.

"Get us over Area 51 as soon as possible, I want to deploy the remaining ODSTs to mop up and secure the base," Cutter ordered, "also, contact the ground force and find out what happened with the Sentinels."

"I can't raise the firebase on the surface, I've been trying for the last five minutes." Serena's avatar seemed deep in concentration as she directed their functional sensors towards the surface. "I'm detecting a diminishing EMP effect consistent with a... Captain, you're not going to like this."

"What is it?" Cutter swiveled his chair around to face Serina.

"My proximity sensors were just tripped. That Covenant destroyer is moving."

On the holotable, an icon representing the sole surviving ship of the Covenant fleet was accelerating at close to its maximum speed, on a direct course for Earth.

"Does it have any functional weapons?" Cutter asked as he turned his chair to the viewport to look at the ship in question as it raced towards Earth. "Get the_ Light of Truth_ to intercept."

"They're out of optimal position, we might be the only ones capable of interception."

"What are my options Serina?" Cutter said as the crew assumed positions, their brief respite over.

"We currently have three-quarters speed available. Archer pods are offline. The MAC is functioning, however the targeting array is damaged. Manual control only."

That made the stakes much greater. From their position behind the Covenant destroyer, they would have to hit the ship on the dot, or risk the slug missing and striking Earth as well. Such an impact would be catastrophic on both land and sea, far more damage than one Covenant ship could do.

"Serina I need better options than that. Get us behind them anyway, we'll ram them if we have to."

The battered _Spirit_ fired her engines and raced to catch up with the destroyer which was now being picked up by US space radar. They also scrambled to launch more missiles to deal with the Covenant destroyer.

"The Covenant destroyer is speeding up by decompressing their decks. We may not be able to reach them in time."

"We have to try, Serina. Push the engines past overload if we have to."

"We're risking damage to the radiation containment on the reactors."

"Serina..."

The AI let out a sigh before overriding the safeties, there was a slight increase in G forces as the ship accelerated. Cutter held his breath as they raced to catch the destroyer before it did harm to the planet. Serina was deep in thought as she attempted to adjust for a thousand factors in order to pull off a precise, manual MAC shot. However the targeting sensors were too badly damaged and the computer leads from her CPU to the sensors were all but severed. Thus Serina could only compensate for about forty percent of outlying factors.

"Captain, I don't think the MAC is an option anymore."

"Then get me missiles!" Cutter barked, the Covenant destroyer was just out of reach. He couldn't let all they had accomplished over the last few hours go to waste. Cutter was forced to watch as the flames of reentry formed around the destroyer.

**

* * *

**

April 30, 2009

**Location: Forerunner complex**

Kyle set about his task soon after the others had left the facility, a task he knew had to be done. He had Kalmiya train his armor's motion tracker on Autonomous Flash, concerned over a repeat of Guilty Spark since this monitor had become linked to the complex in some way. If the monitor tried to stop him from activating the nuke, he would have to stop him. However Kyle was also faced with the prospect of destroying the monitor before he left to escape the blast, or remain with the nuke and ensure it detonated.

"Reclaimer, are you still sure that destroying this facility is the correct answer? The neutron purge..."

"Would kill anyone left to set it off, not to mention leave this place and its tech intact," Kyle retorted. "He didn't want the US government to gain the technology here, even if that meant effectively betraying his home universe."

"Very well. I will see to it that your explosive is not disarmed by the parasite. Finish your work and go quickly, reclaimer, I fear the Flood my reach this level soon."

Kyle quickly finished setting up the nuke and inserted the detonator card, programed for a remote detonation from his COM only. Once that was set he removed his assault rifle and checked his ammo supply.

"_Kyle, do you read."_ It was the Chief calling from the surface.

"I'm here, how's our extraction plan looking?"

"_The pelican's en route, but you've got incoming. A patrol got past me and into the base, they're gonna find their way into the complex. You'd better get everyone out of there I don't know how long I can hold this position." _

"I already sent everyone but myself..." Kyle just realized that he had effectively sent everyone into a possible Covenant ambush.

_Kelly!_

Kyle quickly dashed from the control room, ignoring the monitor's inquiring cries. He ran as fast as he could, past a few sentinels rushing to combat the Flood. Kyle had just cleared the grav lift and entered the exit corridor where the radio rely was placed when he saw her. Kelly was running for her life, she'd just entered the lab and was running for the open entryway when she saw Kyle.

"They're right behind me!" She screamed.

"Come on," Kyle called back as he ran to meet her. Just as she entered the Forerunner hallway, two jackals and a grunt came through in hot pursuit; the jackals began to sprint ahead of the grunt. Kyle dropped to one knee, leveled his assault rifle and and said, "get down". Kelly it the floor as Kyle fired his rifle at the jackals and grunt, killing all three. By this time though, their brute had arrived and had anticipated resistance; he charged and began firing his brute shot wildly. The explosive charges began impacting the hall as Kyle fired at the brute, penetrating his combat armor. Unfortunately, three charges struck Kyle directly and kicked him back and to the floor.

Kelly watched this happen and could only react in mute horror as she sensed the wounded brute approach her from behind. She rolled over to see the brute fumbling with its weapon, preparing to use the blade on its tip. Suddenly, it was struck in the head by what looked like half an assault rifle, the brute looked up and was met by a hail of bullets to the face. As the body dropped to the floor, Kelly got up to see Kyle picking himself off the floor, his SMG in hand thanks to the brute destroying his assault rifle with the brute shot.

"You ok?" She asked.

"I'm fine, what about you?"

"I wasn't hurt. I thought they were going to get me before I could make it back here," Kelly was still shaken up.

"What about everyone else? What happened to them?" Kyle didn't know if he mother was dead or alive.

"Halsey and the other woman got away with one of the soldiers. That kid was cornered by the aliens, I don't know what happened to him," Kelly explained.

Kyle knew Marc was most likely dead, after all he had put the kid through Kyle couldn't help but feel that this was his fault. He didn't have time to worry, right now they needed to get the hell out of there and destroy the complex.

"Chief, do you read?" Kyle didn't know how many Covenant had infiltrated the underground complex, the chief was the only one who knew for sure, and whether or not the surface was still secure. However, all Kyle got was static.

"Kalmiya, run a diagnostic and find out what's happening with the COM."

"I don't need to, Kyle... behind you."

Kyle turned around in response to his AIs cryptic reply and saw the reason why. One of the charges from the brute shot had struck the COM relay, destroying it. Time was almost at a standstill as the gravity of the situation set in. They now lost the ability to remote detonate the nuke, and also to check if they way was even clear to the surface.

"What's wrong?" Kelly asked after Kyle didn't speak for a minute.

He turned to look at her and didn't know what to really say, he didn't know what to do about the situation either.

"Follow me" was all Kyle could manage as he led her back the way he came to the control room, trying desperately to come up with an escape plan that quelled the growing fear inside him.

**XXX**

Twenty miles to the north of the base a massive, black aircraft cruised steadily in a holding pattern. The B2 stealth bomber had been dispatched hours ago under the guise of a training exercise, only instead of dummy ordinance they carried a live nuclear warhead with orders to launch it if they received the necessary codes. The very same codes that flashed across their screen. The two pilots looked at each other, thinking this whole thing was a readiness test; apparently not. They were loyal men and knew better than to question what were genuine orders. They had been briefed before takeoff that they might have to drop the nuke, but only assumed it was another part of the 'test'.

The two men began the sequence needed to launch their payload. Once that was complete, the pilot turned the master key that started the final process. The belly of the bomber opened up and a missile dropped from it. A set of wings extended during free fall and its own rocket motor kicked in and propelled the weapon for the rest of its journey. Their grim task complete, the pilots set their bomber on a course back to base, contemplating what they had done.

**XXX**

The Master Chief was relieved to see the massive elevator activate and bring up the group from the surface, however that turned to concern when only Halsey, Marlyn and a Navy SEAL emerged.

"Where are the others?" He asked Halsey.

"We were ambushed by the Covenant, we got separated from everyone else. Kyle was going to follow after he finished with the nuke." Halsey explained.

"We've gotta go back for them," Marlyn protested.

"I don't think we have the time," the Chief replied, "the US is going to nuke the base any minute. I have to get you out of here."

"I'm not leaving without my son!" Marlyn firmly decreed.

"The Covenant are also closing in, we can't hold this position," the Chief replied.

"I'll distract them if I have to," Marlyn said, "I'm some kind of god in their eyes, right? They wouldn't harm me."

"They'll only see a human, Marlyn," Halsey said, "John's right we need to leave."

On que, a Pelican descended behind the Chief just down the road from the building. However the Covenant choose that moment to storm from the opposite side and began firing on their position. The Master Chief and the SEAL returned fire, but the SEAL wasn't so fortunate as a lucky carbine shot caught him in the head.

"Go!" the chief barked to the women who made a dash for the Pelican. The Chief stayed behind and kept the Covenant distracted long enough for the Pelican to take off to safety.

"I think its time for a retreat," Cortana said as a pair of wraith tanks finally arrived. The chief dashed down the road from the building as the Covenant choose instead to swarm inside the underground complex. Once there were no Covenant in sight, the Chief stopped and weighed his options.

"I need a new escape plan, Cortana."

"Hold on, I'm scanning frequencies," she replied. "I've got it, there's a helicopter evacuating US military stragglers on the north side of the base. If you run you might still catch it."

"I'm on it," the Chief replied.

**XXX**

Kyle had made it with Kelly back to the control room, much to the monitor's surprise who was immediately assaulted with questions.

"I need to know about any other way out of here, right now!"

"I'm sorry, reclaimer but this facility was designed to keep the Flood contained, one way in and out," the monitor said.

"What about a teleporter? A shuttle? There has to be something!" Kyle was becoming increasingly agitated at the looming prospect of being trapped. He was trying to avoid the other subject on his mind, the nuke that needed to be detonated.

"I am sorry, reclaimer, the logic of your situation does not escape me. You have no other way out and will perish when your people detonate the fusion weapon."

"When _I _do it," he mumbled.

"You mean we can't get out?" Kelly asked, "there has to be a way. How about fighting out way to the surface?"

"Even if we did, I have no way of detonating the nuke," Kyle said, "without the COM relay my armor can't send a signal all the way down here on its own."

"Reclaimer, there is always this facility's own communication systems which posses enough power to reach the surface."

"It won't accept foreign signals, I keyed it to my armor..." Kyle realized the utter stupidity of his simple security procedure when setting up the nuke. It only made him feel more miserable.

"Kyle we could hot wire the nuke to a console, plug me in and I'll detonate it," Kalmiya offered.

"No, you won't die because of me," Kyle said as he yanked her chip and marched over to the console. Holding it close enough, she flash transferred over to the Forerunner systems and her avatar appeared over the holographic controls.

"I want you to use the COM systems and upload yourself back to the ship right now."

"I am not abandoning you." She stated.

"This isn't a debate, get out of here now, I won't be responsible for your death as well. You have a chance and I'm ordering you to take it!"

"Kyle..." Kalmiya said, ".. I... I'll go, just..."

"Look, tell my daughter... tell her I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise. Do that for me?"

"Absolutely the AI replied. If she had the ability to cry she would be doing so. "Its been fun... goodbye Kyle."

Her avatar shimmered and faded as she was safely uploaded away. The reality of the situation finally set in, he was going to die. There would be no miraculous recovery, no coming back, there wouldn't even be a body leftover. The guilt of his life also began to flood in as he remembered everyone he couldn't save. Sam, the first person he failed to save, one of the few to befriend him when he was first stranded in the halo universe. Kurt, who's pride and sense of duty forced him to sacrifice himself so Kyle and the others could live. The Spartan IIIs, Ash, Holly and the others. Even Kelly.

He hadn't noticed that Kelly was right behind him until he'd turned around. She had a stern face, but was marred by sadness.

"Your daughter, is ours, right?" She asked.

"Yeah," Kyle replied.

Kelly slowly embraced the armored spartan which Kyle automatically returned. It felt good to hold her one more time.

"I'm sorry I can't be the woman you were involved with," she said, "I wish I could be her so she could be here for you."

"It doesn't matter, you're still her," Kyle said back.

"Reclaimer, you must use your fusion device, the Flood have penetrated this level. I will get you as much time as I am capable of doing so." The monitor's eye glowed red as he raced from the room and into the halls, his weapon discharged moments later.

"I have to do this," Kyle said as he let go of Kelly and went over to the far wall. The HAVOK nuke was still attached to the wall so Kyle pried it off with all his strength and set it on the floor. Kneeling down, he opened the plastic cover protecting a red button, the manual detonator. He placed his palm over it and tried to think of something one last time, his final thought. It was interrupted when Kelly placed on of her hands over his gauntlet. He looked at her and saw a determination in her eyes, the same he used to see in hers all the time. That sight gave Kyle his last bit of joy as it proved she wasn't totally gone, she was always in there.

The monitor was suddenly whipped back into the room by a Flood tentacle that seemed to search the room until it saw the two of them. It seem poised to strike at Kelly, so it was at that moment that he pressed the button, as if in some way to protect her one last time.

**XXX**

"Come on!"

The Master Chief had located the helicopter and was now running to meet it. A lone soldier stood at the open hatch of the CH-47, beckoning for the Chief to hurry aboard. The Master Chief bounded up the ramp and into the passenger hold, followed closly by the US soldier. There were only three others in the passenger compartment, all who were surprised to see a spartan hitching a ride with them.

"Are we good?" The pilot called out.

"There's no one else, get us the hell out of here", the soldier near the hatch cried back.

The helicopter lifted off from the ground and into the sky, heading north to where everyone else had gone on foot. After a few minutes The Chief's COM buzzed with activity on the US channel that he was tuned into.

"_All forces, Hammerdown, repeat Hammerdown. Hit the deck and brace for detonation."_

"Shit! Hang on back there this is gonna get rough." The pilot yelled.

The four soldiers buckled themselves in, however the chief looked out the open hatch to see Area 51, right before the ground seemed to open up and swallow most of the base and the dry lakebed, forming a roughly circular crater in a matter of seconds.

"An underground nuclear explosion," Cortana said, "the HAVOK went off."

Before the chief had time to think, a massive flash appeared over the remains of the base. The soldiers shielded their eyes and the Master Chief's visor automatically polarized to block the harmful light. As his HUD readouts were covered in static from the EMP effect, the chief was treated to the sight of a nuclear fireball forming, before the shock wave slammed into the helicopter. The pilot instantly lost control and the soldiers inside braced themselves as he tried to send of a mayday.

"Mayday, mayday, Kilo-25 is going down, three clicks northwest of..."


	27. Chapter 26: beginings and endings

**Disclaimer: I don't own halo, all OCs are mine**

**Chapter 26: beginnings and endings**

**May 1, 2009**

**Location: California- Edwards AFB**

"Sorry sir, you got covered in heavy fallout. We have to scrub you down."

The Master Chief simply raised his arms as his armor was doused with water and chemicals to wash the radioactive dust off. The MJOLNIR's own radiation insulation had protected the Chief from receiving a dose directly to his body, however he spent several hours walking away from the helicopter crash site as fallout rained down. He was rescued by NEST teams attempting to reach ground zero and was brought to Edwards where UNSC survivors were regrouping. The chief needed a cursory decontamination before he could go up to the _Spirit_ to have a more effective one performed on his armor.

Men in scrubs and breather masks entered and began hosing him down with foam and cleaning the armor with sponges on booms. From the other side of a glass partition, an Air Force officer watched the procedure along with Fred-104. Fred walked away and down the hall to the hangars, passing a break room where a few Air Force personnel were gathered around the TV, watching the news as they reported the events of what happened.

"… _for those of us just joining us, official reports indicate an asteroid impacted the Earth in the southern pacific ocean yesterday afternoon, triggering a tsunami that has devastated the western coast of South America. Parts of central America, many pacific islands and even Hawaii have received significant damage as well."_

_We're also following reports of an unconfirmed nuclear detonation in the Nevada desert. This comes in the wake of the national guard evacuating massive parts of Utah in preparation for fallout reaching that state. The White House has yet to issue a public statement on the asteroid or the nuclear detonation. Casualty estimates from from the tsunami have yet to be officially estimated..._

Fred moved on from the break room and continued down the hall past one of the infirmaries that was set up by medical personnel from the _Spirit_ to treat the wounded. UNSC and US forces alike were on beds and cots getting their injuries treated. Fred eventually reached the main hangar where the UNSC was setting up their staging area, compiling casualty lists and handling equipment transfers back to the ship. Off in one corner, all the remaining Spartans were gathered. Linda was checking her sniper rifle and the rest were just milling about, however they all had one very important thing on their minds.

"Well? Tell me he knows something different?" Maria asked.

Fred dreaded saying what he had learned from The Chief shortly before he was scrubbed down. "His story is the same as Halsey's, Kyle didn't get out."

It wasn't until after they had rendezvoused at Edwards that they noticed Kyle and Kelly didn't make it out. Kalmiya had made it to the Spirit and told them what had happened, but Fred and the others weren't convinced, believing her program had been damaged by the upload somehow. Halsey confirmed, further backed up by the Master Chief, that Kyle and Kelly were still inside when the nuke went off. Orbital scans from both the _Spirit of Fire_ and the_ Light of Truth_ didn't pick up his IFF, and the US still couldn't reach ground zero because of the high radiation levels. The Spartans still didn't want to admit it, with all the evidence there was no use in denying it anymore, Kyle and Kelly were dead. The loss of comrades in the past always affected the Spartans, but not this time in such a manner. Kelly had been with them since the very beginning, and Kyle, he was unique. Not in the fact he came from a parallel universe, but that his personality was so different from the rest. He'd been forced to become a spartan, had faced so many perilous battles over the course of the war, and when presented with the opportunity to prevent it all from happening to him he choose not to. He was selfless and had made the ultimate sacrifice before, however this time there would be no Flood genes or Forerunner powers to bring him back. Their friend and brief leader was gone forever. Although none of the other military personnel could see it, the Spartans noticed the subtle hints of emotion from one another. From crying to simple frustrated range, they grieved in their own ways.

**

* * *

**

May 2, 2009

**Location: Washington DC- The White House**

"The president will make a brief statement from the oval office. He will obviously not be answering any questions at this time."

The press secretary had explained the terms of this address yesterday, the first the president was giving since the Covenant attack and subsequent 'natural disaster'. The press had been gathered in the press room to report first hand as the president made an address on the events of two days ago. So far the cover story was holding and the world at large was too horrified at the massive loss of life in South America to do any real digging for the evidence present in orbit. The nuclear explosion in Nevada was proving more difficult to explain away as the USGS had confirmed there was a nuclear blast and went so far as to report its epicenter as Area 51. The press took their seats as the screens on either side of the podium came on and displayed the oval office. All across America people tuned in on their TVs or watched it streaming on the internet. A few watched from the screens of Times Square as the president began to speak.

"Today, I address you in regards to the catastrophe that has struck our planet. Two days ago, an asteroid struck the southern pacific ocean two thousand miles south east of the French Polynesia. While this impact was nowhere on the scale of the dinosaurs in that our planet won't be facing a nuclear winter, a catastrophic amount of damage was done in the form of a Tsunami. South America, New Zealand, many pacific islands including Hawaii, and even parts of Alaska have received varying degrees of damage. I have pledged the full resources of the country to the nations and states effected by this disaster."

"I also wish to address the situation developing in the southeastern portion of our own country. There was an accidental nuclear detonation at the site commonly referred to as Area 51. This is a result of a misunderstanding on the part of the Russian government in regards to an attempt to shoot down the asteroid. Because NASA detected the asteroid too late, I authorized the military to use nuclear missiles from one of our subs in the pacific, Russian radar detected this launch and misconstrued it as an attack and responded accordingly. Thankfully they realized the mistake and detonated all but two of the missiles they launched. The Air Force stopped one off the California coast, while the other struck Area 51, its preprogramed target. While I am appalled at the loss of life on the base and surrounding areas, I along with the Russians are relieved that the damage was not greater."

"Because of this accident, I have ordered a mandatory evacuation of the state of Utah in preparation for fallout. I've been in contact with the governor of Utah, the Utah national guard, and the governors of bordering states. The military in conjunction with NEST and the NOAA will plot the track of the fallout so we can anticipate any more wide scale evacuations outside the state of Utah. I'm calling upon all Americans to support their country and the rest of the world in overcoming and recovering from this catastrophe. Thank you, and god bless the United States of America."

**XXX**

Later in the day, a funeral was held at Arlington national cemetery. The Spartans along with Cutter and Doctors Halsey and Anders attended as the official UNSC delegation, in full dress. General Denning and a few other US military officials were present as a brief eulogy was given to commemorate those that died to protect Earth. An empty casket served as the centerpiece, and also the cover as to outside eyes it looked like just another funeral. A black SUV rolled up carrying the president who'd just come from his address. He'd traveled at great risk in just a solitary SUV with half a dozen guards just to speak at the service. His speech was brief, but it commemorated everyone quite well and that the president owed each and every dead soldier a debt he could never repay.

The funeral broke up and the various military personnel mingled about talking about everything that had happened. The Master Chief was about to join the other Spartans when he saw Kyle's parents and brother in the crowd, preparing to leave themselves. The Master Chief told Fred to wait as he caught up to the Stevens'.

"You're the Master Chief, right?" Alan asked.

"That's correct, sir," he replied.

"Ah, there's no need to sir me, I'm not in your chain of command. Is there something you need?" Alan asked.

"I just wanted to tell you about Kyle. I know how your family is career military, and I just wanted to tell you it was a honor to have him under my command and eventually serve under him myself. He was an exceptional soldier."

"I have no doubt about that, Master Chief," Alan replied. Marlyn was becoming upset after such an emotional tale of Kyle's duty. His brother held the solemn face he'd had throughout the entire funeral. The president eventually located the Stevens family and joined them himself.

"Mr president, sir." Alan and David both saluted their Commander in Chief.

"At ease, I just came to express my deepest condolences for your loss. I've recommended you both for citations of valor and bravery, I also wanted to give you this."

He had one of the secret service guards pass him a leather case which he presented to the Major. Alan opened it to reveal a medal, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

"I had the paperwork passed in secret and locked away, we don't have to worry about the public finding out. Its not the medal of honor but its worthy of his accomplishments."

"Thank you, sir," Alan replied, his own emotions starting to bleed through as his voice wavered.

The president nodded and walked off to converse with General Denning. Alan turned once more to the Master Chief.

"We have to be leaving, we have another funeral, my nephew who was killed at the base," Alan explained.

"I understand, we're preparing to go home ourselves. I know that it must have been tough loosing him."

Marlyn finally said something, "We had to pretend our son was dead for nine months, Master Chief. Over those past few months we always wondered whether he was actually alive or dead, now we know for sure."

The trio left the Chief for their own car, the chief returned to the rest of the Spartans and joined them in heading to their own transport back to Andrews for a phantom ride up to the _Spirit_.

**

* * *

**

May 2, 2009

**Location: Earth orbit- UNSC _Spirit of Fire_**

"Drink?"

"Sure."

Cutter was in the briefing room with General Denning who had accompanied them up to the ship for one final briefing. Cutter had pulled out a bottle of Jericho Ice Brandy, one of the few bottles in existence since he'd learned Jericho had been glassed five years after the _Spirit_ was stranded. He pulled two glasses from a cupboard near the main window and poured a generous amount into each. He handed one off to the General as he leaned against the table, studying the data displayed on the main screen.

"Hard to believe no ones asking any real questions," Denning mused aloud.

"How did you president manage to convince the Russians to go along with the cover story?" Cutter asked.

Denning to a sip from his drink and set it down on the table. "Basically the president 'agreed' to withdraw our forward bases in Central Asia and slowly tone down the support we've been giving to Georgia. Essentially we've handed the region over to the Russians on a silver platter, the fact one of their satellites caught the battle didn't help matters. However they realize that going public with everything would be a bad move for the sheer impossibility of the battle."

"They why agree to those demands?"

"Because it'll spark a public investigation of mainly the Area 51 site; all they need to do is analyze soil from grown zero and they'll know it was an American nuke, not a Russian one. This is the most fucked up foreign policy decision in history, even though its classified." Denning took another sip of his drink. "Although, the reports I've seen say we'll be able to start mass production and delivery of our own home grown biofoam in a week."

Cutter nodded, he was the one who authorized the release of the chemical formula for biofoam as well as some other advanced medical technology to the United States for use in the humanitarian relief efforts. It was a risk, as defined by Serina and even Doctor Halsey, but Cutter felt an obligation as he felt guilty for not shooting down the destroyer before it reached Earth.

"How's the debris moving coming along?" Denning asked.

"The _Light of Truth_ just towed the last chuck into Jupiter's atmosphere, you won't have to worry about any striking Earth."

Denning took a final swig of his drink and set the glass down on the table, "I'd better be going, there's going to be closed hearings regarding everything that's happened. Its best if I get prepared early."

"Just to have a bunch of politicians micromanage what you did?" Cutter rhetorically asked.

"I imagine I'll be forced to resign for 'the greater good', it'll probably be too soon. The head of USSPACECOM resigns in the wake of an asteroid strike, helps to shore up the cover story." Denning headed for the door, "its been a wild ride, Captain, shame it had to end like this."

"That it did, General, that it did."

**

* * *

**

June 4, 2559

**Location: Sol system, Earth orbit- UNSC _Spirit of Fire_**

"… _repeat, transmit **valid** authentication codes or you will be fired upon. This is your last warning!"_

"So much for that idea," Serina chirped.

"Its not surprising, we've been missing for almost thirty years," Cutter said, "Lieutenant, you'd better talk to them."

Fred and the Master Chief were present on the bridge for the transition back to their own universe. They appeared right near Earth with the _Light of Truth_ in tow, and the _Spirit's_ well out of date codes were causing a panic for the home fleet, which was vectoring to intercept the two ships.

"This is Spartan-104, authentication foxtrot-nine, three, two-black. I am aboard UNSC _Spirit of Fire,_ escort vessel is friendly Covenant. Do not fire." Fred hoped that his code still had some weight, as the only person with a surefire code was Kyle.

"_Authentication is valid, Lieutenant. We're vectoring you to McKinley station for docking. Fleet command also wants to speak to you."_

"Serina, put them on", Cutter ordered as he, Fred and the Master Chief moved to face the display at the back of the bridge. The monitor normally displayed the_ Spirit of Fire_'s emblem, but had changed to the UNSC symbol as it connected back into the UNSC COM network for the first time in decades. Lord Hood's image appeared and all three men saluted him.

"_Spartan, its damn good to see you're ok. I'd ask for a status report on your team, but what I'm most concerned about is how you got here, on a long destroyed ship of all things? I sent a rescue mission to find you.."_

"We know, sir, Kyle did rescue us, in a way." Fred didn't want to go to deep into details right now, not when the memories were still fresh.

"_Well where is he? Or Commander Veredi and the Razor's Edge for that matter?"_

"Dead, sir... they're both dead."

**XXX**

The _Spirit_ docked a few minutes later and Cutter had the Spartans, Halsey and Anders muster at the airlock to greet Lord Hood personally. For Cutter and Anders, it felt good to be home; for the rest, they were still saddened by the loss of two of their closest friends. The station's umbilical extended to meet the _Spirit's_ airlock and was pressurized. The main door came up and the group walked forward to the station's door, which also opened. Lord Hood was standing there with an entourage of officers, one of which included Miranda Keyes, who was wearing a leg brace and using a cane to cope with her injuries. The two groups met and after some saluting, Hood personally shook Fred's hand. Halsey went up to Miranda and the two embraced.

"Spartan, its good to have you all back. You have my deepest condolences over the loss of Kyle, he was an exceptional soldier and he will be missed."

"Yes, sir, he was," Fred replied, "we also brought the Master Chief back with us, sir."

"The Chief..." Hood was shocked to see the very same Spartan walk forward, looking as he did the last day Hood saw him.

"Its an honor to have you all back safely," Hood said to the Spartans before turning to Captain Cutter.

"Captain, needless to say we were never expecting to see you or your ship ever again. Naturally there's going to be an extensive debrief and review of your longs so we can understand just what happened. I'd also like a copy of your current ship's roster, so we can find any of your crew's surviving family members." Hood placed his hand on Cutter's shoulder, "I realize 29 years is a long time, but we'll do our best to track down as many of your crew's relatives as possible."

"I appreciate that, Admiral."

The entourage of officers began pouring across the airlock into the _Spirit of Fire_. As they passed the chief he noticed the ONI patch on their arms; no doubt they wanted the records of the shield world and the Forerunner crystal held in the engine room.

"Ma'am, we need the AI," one of them said to Halsey.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," Halsey replied.

"The initial reports we have say you have a potentially rampant AI in your possession, Kalmiya. You know the procedures as well as I do, Doctor."

The Chief stepped in between the ONI agent and Halsey, "the doctor doesn't want to give you her AI, end of story."

"Master Chief, our reports say you retrieved Cortana on The Ark and still have her; we'll need her as well."

"Not like that's going to happen," Cortana said, "but I doubt these guys are taking no for an answer."

"My answer's the same as Halsey's no," The Chief sternly replied.

"This isn't a request, Master Chief, both AIs are to be turned over to ONI for study, end of discussion."

"Lieutenant, you're obviously not getting them, so back off," Miranda Keyes said to him.

"Captain, this is way out of your jurisdiction, so you need to back off and go back to that shot up cruiser of yours," the ONI Lieutenant replied.

The Lieutenant motioned to the Marines in the airlock to moved forward. "Marines, both the Master Chief and Doctor Halsey have refused to follow the orders of the proper chain of command, arrest them."

"Arrest who?" Hood said as he saw the commotion and came over to investigate.

"Admiral, ONI has ordered the confiscation of the AIs Cortana, Serina and Kalmiya for examination to determine rampancy levels. Halsey and Spartan-117 have refused to give me two in question," The Lieutenant explained.

"Let me see these orders."

Hood was handed a data pad and quickly scrolled through the texts until he arrived at the ID codes. He shook his head and handed the pad back to the Lieutenant who was looking a lot more confident.

"I'm sorry, the orders are valid and there's nothing I can do to immediately countermand them." Hood was just as disappointed as The Chief and Halsey, who were still reluctant to turn over their AIs.

"We'd also like to hold Halsey for a few days, just for some routine questioning," the Lieutenant said.

"There's nothing on that pad even authorizing that. Halsey is set to leave aboard the _Light of Truth _in 20 minutes as she's technically a member of their crew. I don't have the authority to hold her even if I wanted to," Hood said. "Chief, you and Halsey can have a few minutes to say goodbye to the AIs."

The Lieutenant knew he couldn't fight the Admiral on that, but wasn't about to let them do it either. "I want them in a non networked room, not even a data tap."

"There's an observation room down the hall you can use, Chief," Hood said.

"Thank you, sir" the Chief replied.

They were escorted by the Marines to the observation room and given some privacy; the Master Chief ensured the door was shut.

"Hood's given us a window, we need a plan," Halsey said.

"We couldn't upload ourselves by remote you think?" Cortana asked over John's speakers.

Halsey shook her head, "My laptop doesn't have a transmitter strong enough to get you both anywhere. I'll get Kalmiya online in the mean time, let her know what's going on."

The Master Chief turned away from Halsey for a moment and talked to Cortana privately.

"Look, if we can pull off a way to get you out of here..."

"Chief, I don't think what you're gonna say really needs saying," Cortana replied.

It was awkward, not only their conversation but the fact he couldn't actually see Cortana was making it weird. He knew that this was the last time he was going to speak to his companion for so long.

"Besides," Cortana continued, "its not like anything could have happened with us anyway."

"… yeah, I guess you're right," the Chief replied.

"If you two are done, I believe I have a plan," Halsey said to them, "rather, an old plan to be precise."

**XXX**

The ONI Lieutenant watched as the observation room door opened and Halsey and the Master Chief stepped out.

He held out his hand, "The AIs, now."

The Master Chief reached up behind his helmet and removed the chip, Halsey also pulled a chip out of her closed laptop. They both handed over their chips to the ONI Lieutenant who inspected their crystal centers, one blue and the other yellow. He handed them over to one of his companions who inserted the chips into a card reader.

"The Riemann matrices match our records, its them."

"Very good," the Lieutenant said, "you did the right thing today, you're free to go."

Halsey and the Master Chief walked off without another word down the hall and towards the airlock that the _Light of Truth_ was docked at.

"Will they be ok?" The Chief asked.

"I couldn't tell you for certain, John, not until I get them out of my computer and decompress them," Halsey explained. "I'd love to see the look on ONI's faces when the copies we gave them start propagating and crash their networks." Halsey made a brief smile at that thought. "I doubt that they'll come after you for your hand in this, as for me this is likely to be the last time I can safely set foot in UNSC controlled space." She place her hand on John's arm. "Take care of yourself, Chief."

"You too, ma'am." The Chief gave a quick salute before Halsey marched down the airlock and into the Covenant ship, never to be seen by John again.

**

* * *

**

June 6, 2559

**Location: Earth- Chicago **

Avery Johnson had agreed to hold a more private memorial service for Kyle and Kelly at his place. All the Spartans attended in full dress uniforms, they had tried to get a hold of Captain Cutter, but he was indisposed at one of countless ONI debriefings he'd been subjected to. Miranda Keyes had managed to make it despite her busted leg and the questioning ONI did after her mother took off with the real Cortana and Kalmiya. The Chief was mingling with Fred and Johnson, the first conversation he had with the former Sergeant in years.

"I had his will opened the other day, no surprise I was named legal guardian should something to the both of 'em. The rest is straight forward, house and accounts in a trust until she's 18."

The Master Chief left the conversation and walked around the foyer until he came to a couch. There was a little girl sitting there, the Master Chief recognized the familiar mane of hair as being identical to Kelly's; this had to be her and Kyle's daughter. The Master Chief leaned down to face her at an equal enough height; he had no real experience with kids, except for frightened colonists who had most of the time just watched their family slaughtered by the Covenant.

"Why are you sitting here by yourself?" He asked.

"Cuz I can," she replied, "Uncle Avery said I didn't need to talk to anyone if I didn't want to, and I don't want to."

"It still not a good idea, you need to come to terms with what's happened". He mentally kicked himself for such a cold comment, he could imagine Cortana reminding him that this wasn't a Spartan he was talking to here.

"What's your name?" The Chief asked.

"Rebbecca," she replied.

"Its nice to meet you, I'm John."

"Did you know my dad?" She asked.

"I did, he was a very brave man, saved a lot of lives."

"Why would he break his promise then?" Rebbecca asked, "if he saved all those people why couldn't he keep his promise?"

The Master Chief couldn't think of anything to say to her, anything that would have explained why Kyle sacrificed himself; at least not in terms a little girl could understand.

**

* * *

**

June 15, 2560

**Location: Earth, Sydney, Australia- UNSC high command 'The Spire' **

It had been a year since he returned to Earth, and in that year the Master Chief and the other Spartans had successfully completed their mission. The _Unyielding Apocalypse_ hadn't been sited since it left the parallel Earth, and without their leadership those few Covenant remnants were either defeated, surrendered or disbanded of their own accord. The UNSC turned its attention to the rebel groups and terrorist organizations still lingering. The Spartans successfully rooted everyone one of them out within a year and sent a successful message; sedition was still not tolerated. There was now no more need for the Spartans, and as such they were faced with a dilemma; what now? Maria retired once more and went back to civilian life. Linda and Will had also taken off together, heading for what was now considered the outer colonies. Fred had opted to become a black ops instructor, Tom and Lucy ever at his side like they had been with Kurt. Cassandra oddly enough had chosen to go to medical school, she decided she'd done enough killing and thought it was high time to start helping people.

The Master Chief on the other hand had nowhere to go, there was nothing in retiring that appealed to him, becoming some kind of an instructor seemed like a waste of his talents; Marines could never live up to the same level as Spartans. The Master Chief had inquired about training any future Spartans, however HIGHCOM had deemed that to start another Spartan program was too controversial. The civilian government was reinstated its old powers that were assumed by the UNSC for the war, and as such massive reviews had been started into UNSC practices during the war. The UNSC and ONI had managed to keep most of the Spartan-II files from going public mainly because the program wasn't officially a Covenant war practice. The government agreed to keep the Spartan II files secret on the condition no more Spartan programs be commissioned, ONI was willing to agree to this in order to keep the much more controversial Spartan III project from an extensive inquiry that public outcry would have caused.

So the Master Chief was here, at HIGHCOM's advanced cryo suspension facility, preparing once more to go into an icy sleep. They had offered him the option of being frozen to be revived should a major war necessitate the need for Spartans. Already in stasis were the surviving Spartan-IIIs of gamma company, the ones who nearly suffered irreversible brain damage thanks to the special augmentations they got; a cure still hadn't been devised for them.

"We offered this option to all the other Spartans before they retired, and you're the only one to take it," the cryo tech said as they prepared his pod for use. "You are aware of the risks associated with long-term cryo storage?"

"I am," The Chief replied.

"Alright, now remember this term lasts a maximum of 100 years, which means we thaw you out permanently then if you're not needed. That the maximum amount of time we can ice you without risking cellular damage."

"I understand, lets get this over with."

The Chief climbed into the pod, armor and all. The lid closed over and the familiar cryo gases seeped in. The Chief turned off his armor's pressure seals and slowly inhaled the gases until his vision became cloudy. And so The Chief followed through with his choice,_ 'wake me, when you need me'._

**

* * *

**

September 7, 2011

**Location: Washington DC- The White House **

Rebbecca ran a hand through her hair and stood up, leaning on the balcony and taking a deep breath. For thirteen years she had always wondered what had happened to her parents, why they dies, why her father broke his promise to make it back to her. Now that she finally knew, it was all overwhelming, one of the greatest mysteries in her life she'd finally been able to solve.

"Are you ok?" Marlyn asked as she put a hand on her shoulder.

Rebbecca turned to her and nodded, "most of my life I always wanted to know what happened, I finally do and... I don't know what to think."

"Your father made the ultimate sacrifice," the president said, "not just for this country but for the entire world. He saved six billion people that day, and it cost him his life. You should be proud of what he did."

"I am... its just a lot to take it. A legacy like that..."

"You're doing the Stevens name proud," Alan said, "carrying on the tradition."

Johnson also put a hand on her shoulder, "you know, despite the fact your father never wanted you to be a soldier, when you went and enlisted it was one of the happiest days of my life. You're the closest thing I've got to a kid. I'm proud of you, and you should be proud of your father."

Rebecca placed one of her hands over Avery's, "thanks, Uncle."

One of the president's aids walked out onto the balcony and quickly whispered in his ear before leaving.

"There's been an incident, I need to go. I hope I've been able to answer all of your questions about what happened."

"You've been more than helpful Mr president, thank you."

"I'll have a car brought around," the president gave a quick nod before going back inside the White House.

"We'll need to get you settled in if you're gonna be staying with us," Alan said, "come on."

**XXX**

The sun had set by the time Rebbecca got back to her grandparents' house, Marlyn had started getting the guest room together for Rebbecca to stay in while Johnson called the Prowler and checked in. Alan was in his study, trying to get a hold of David to tell him the news. Rebbecca sat in the living room, pondering what she was about to do when Johnson came back in.

"The _Livewire_ is moving into range to use that damn Forerunner contraption to get me."

"I'm coming with you," Rebbecca said to him. Naturally, he wasn't pleased to hear that.

"Rebbecca, I thought we made it clear why you had to stay here. We can't risk Ackerson getting a hold of you."

"Uncle, this is the exact same situation my father was in, and did he run?"

"That completely different," Johnson dismissed, "if he gets a hold of you then he can potentially make an unlimited army of Spartans. He'd be worse than any kind of rebel or dictator humanity has ever seen!"

"Billions of people are at risk still, just like here. My father convinced the _Spirit of Fire_ to stay behind and he gave his life saving this planet and its people! The stakes are just as high if Ackerson succeeds in taking over the UNSC."

"Rebbecca I can't let you do this, what would your father think if he knew you were going to do something like this!"

"He'd be damned proud."

Rebbecca turned around to see Alan come out of his study to investigate the argument. "Kyle had the same choice you did, to run and hide and let Earth be destroyed. If he was here, he'd approve of what you're trying to do, and frankly so do I. The Stevens' never ran from a fight, I don't see why now that needs to change."

"Uncle Avery, I know you and Aunt Jilan are looking out for my best interests in addition to Earth's, but I can't stay here. I need to help stop Ackerson in my own way, not by hiding."

"Rebbecca, frankly I admire you for what you're trying to do, but its damn risky." A wave of confusion came over Johnson's face before he relented, "alright get over here before I change my mind."

Rebbecca quickly joined Johnson by his side and grabbed his hand as he triggered the recall beacon he'd been given.

"Thank you, for everything," Rebbecca said to Alan.

"Good luck, Corporal," Alan replied with a quick salute before him and the house washed away with the appearance of the translocation field. After another nauseating journey they rematerialized on board the Livewire, Captain Sinclair wasn't happy to see Rebbecca had been brought back aboard.

"Damn it, Johnson, your orders were to leave here there!"

"Ma'am, with all due respect I'm technically retired, which means you can't order me to do jiggly squat. Besides, it was her choice."

"Marine, you realize I can just order you back to the surface," Sinclair snapped at Rebbecca.

"I understand, ma'am, I'm asking to join the fight against this psycho rather than sit on the sidelines."

"If you get caught there may be no rescue for you, Ackerson has his sights on getting you for his private army unless we can stop him first. You really want to help with this?" Sinclair was giving her the option of going back rather than sending her against her will.

"Stevens' don't run from fights," Rebbecca said, voicing her decision.

"In that case, follow me to the bridge."

Johnson and Rebbecca did as instructed and followed the Captain to the bridge. The main view screen displayed the Earth slowly moving away as the prowler put some distance between them for the transition.

"We'll be jumping back just outside the lunar perimeter, we'll check in with Captain Al-Cygni and then jump to the safe coordinates."

There was a slight vibration as the Forerunner crystal was activated and the whole bridge turned white with the transition. When it was over, alarms began blaring as the prowler was on a collision course with a hull of a ship.

"Evasive now!" Sinclair cried as Rebbecca and Johnson grabbed hold of the railing behind the captain's chair. G forces gripped the small ship as emergency thrusters kicked the prowler under what turned out to be a hull fragment of a UNSC vessel, fire and smaller debris greeted the prowler once it was clear. The carnage was devastating, destroyers and frigates lay wasted, some still spewing fire and atmosphere.

"What the hell happened?" Rebbecca said in shock.

"I... I'm not sure, intel said Ackerson was still months away from swaying enough ships to his cau..."

Captain Sinclair was silenced as one of the destroyer husks drifted out of their light of sight to reveal a massive ship approaching Earth.

"I'll be damned, never thought I'd see the lover squid ship again," Johnson muttered.

"The _Unyielding Apocalypse_" Rebbecca muttered. It couldn't be any other ship, but its presence gave everyone a sinking feeling.

The Covenant had attacked Earth, this time to finish the job.

**

* * *

**

Message from the General

: yeah, if some of you were thinking this story was over, think again. Review please. 


	28. Chapter 27: apocalypse rising

**Disclaimer: I don't own halo, all OCs are mine**

**chapter 27: apocalypse rising**

**August 19, 2572**

**Location: Earth orbit, McKinley station- UNSC _Yamato _**

Sitting in one of the docking slips of the station was the largest ship ever fielded by the UNSC. The Yamato was almost three kilometers long and in the shape of a rough diamond with the aft tapered back to give it a more triangular appearance from a far. She was armed with two massive MAC guns on either side, built directly into the space frame for maximum protection; all you could see were the two small holes in the hull at the end of each barrel. Archer missiles, heavy deck guns and 50 mm autocanons lined the hull in other places. While technically classified as a battleship, everyone in the fleet knew she was a dreadnought due to the rather disproportionate classification system when it came to types of ships. Cruisers had the firepower and strength of battleships, destroyers functioned more like cruisers, and most frigates were basically corvettes built around a MAC gun; most notably the iconic Sinoviet-class line of frigates. The disproportion came from the days where the Navy essentially lied to the bean counters to get funds for construction.

The Yamato had been ordered and laid down in the early 2520s, the lead ship of her class ended up being the only one in service. In 2524 the higher ups in the Navy ordered construction stopped due to the diversion of funds to an ONI project that would eventually become the Spartan-II program. When the disastrous battle at Harvest happened, the Navy pulled the incomplete Yamato out of mothballs and completed the ship. However the need for as many ships as possible prevented the construction of her planned sister ship as it would have drained considerable resources. The Yamato had managed to survive the entire war due to the reluctance of the UNSC to use her in large engagements, and the ingenuity of her long time commanding officer.

On the bridge, the morning shift had just taken their stations; the ship was in the middle of a crew rotation and shore leave so there weren't that may officers present. The XO, Commander Eric Brannigan, had just arrived on the bridge to supervise the morning watch.

"Commander, I have something you need to see," the operations officer, Lieutenant Williams said to Brannigan.

"What is it?" The XO asked as he set his coffee down on the plotting board and walked to the Lieutenant's station.

"Sir, we've got a communications blackout over half of Earth space. It happened just a few minutes ago."

"Apollo, give me a readout of this blackout zone."

On the plotting board behind him, a holographic representation of Earth appeared with one whole side highlighted in red.

"A few home fleet battlegroups were supposed to be continuing exercises started yesterday, this could be part of a drill. Or innie sabotage," Brannigan mused.

"Innie's?" Williams asked.

"Insurrectionists, Lieutenant. Don't they teach you any history at OCS?"

"Well yes, sir. But the insurrection was officially stopped over ten years ago, besides why sabotage something on Earth rather than UNSC facilities on a colony?"

"Sends us a message kid, although most innie groups are gone or just a dozen people hiding in a basement planing grandiose bombings that they can't actually pull off."

"Commander, I believe this is neither an exercise or sabotage by rebel forces. The image of a man appeared on the plotting board dressed in a toga that barely covered his body; Apollo the AI for the Yamato. "The jamming extends not only in space but to the surface of Earth itself, already we have lost contact with the entire Oceania region as well as eastern Asia. We also have no contact with western North America and satellites in that region are not responding to commands."

Brannigan was starting to become worried, "do we have any ships that can investigate this?"

"I do not believe that is a viable option Commander, as any ship that enters the affected area may be susceptible to the same jamming. Luna's rotation has brought half of the moon into the jamming field, we may be able to use the stellar observatories on the surface to look at the affected area."

"Do it, and contact fleet command and let them know whats going on up here," Brannigan ordered.

"I'm afraid Sydney falls under the affected area, but I will relay this to the flagship of the home fleet and the Admiral."

"That won't be necessary, Apollo."

Strolling up the stairs from the main entrance and into the bridge was the Yamato longtime commanding officer, Rear Admiral Asraf Horito; a man who's exploits while few, rivaled that of Preston Cole. He was of Vietnamese descent, and was often confused for being Japanese due to the Yamato namesake. He ascended to the captaincy of the battleship during the fall of Eridanus II when the Admiral of the battle group and the Captain of the Yamato had been killed. He took command and saved the ship and the rest of the crew, and was given a promotion to Captain in return. Horito wasn't a by the books kind of man, and frequently disobeyed his superior officer's commands to do what he thought was the right thing; 90% of the time he was usually right. After a while, admirals refused to have the Yamato as their flagship because of its captain's reputation. It took years, but in 2550, Horito was promoted to Rear Admiral and given command of his own battle group. While unable to make it to Reach when it fell, he was instrumental in holding the outer Sol system during the Covenant assault on Earth.

"Admiral, we've had a communication blackout over half of Earth; we can't determine the cause," Brannigan reported.

"I was in the middle of a conference call with Admiral Smith at HIGHCOM when it got cut off," Horito explained, "you were planning to find out why?"

"Yes, Admiral," Apollo interjected, "I am in the process of linking up to the Collins Stellar Telescope on Luna. It has a communication hardline that leads to a relay station outside the interference." Apollo's face narrowed in concentration. "Admiral, I'm picking up some very peculiar transmissions, routing them in now."

"… _can't identify them, they're clustered around a massive ship, the design is almost coven..."_

"I've detected multiple emergency transponders from damaged warships along with a multitude of distress signals. Judging from the first transmission, I would deduce that we are under attack and the most likely culprit is the Covenant."

Admiral Horito immediately snapped into action and walked to the command console, "This is the Admiral, all hands to battlestations we are under Covenant attack. Apollo, put me through to fleet command."

"I cannot raise the home fleet, the flagship is among the ones inside the jamming field," Apollo replied.

"Its up to us," Horito said, "XO, tell the dock master he has sixty seconds to disconnect my ship or his docking assembly is coming with us."

"Aye, sir," Brannigan replied. "Ops, prepare all decks for departure, all hands to man their battle stations."

"Sir?" Williams questioned, "a third of the crew is off ship, we're in no condition for battle."

"Son, you're new here, so I'm gonna tell you the same thing I was when I reported aboard 20 years ago: the Admiral's always right. Battlestations, Lieutenant."

"Yes, sir," Williams replied as he returned to his station and issued the appropriate orders. All across the ship alarms blared and half asleep crewman rolled out of their bunks and haphazardly put their uniforms on. The mess halls were quickly emptied as more of the crew ran through the halls to their stations. Outside the ship, the McKinley dockyard staff quickly began cutting all the connections to the ship even as the bow thrusters began their prelaunch warm up. The dock master had to sever the last connections to the Yamato through explosive bolts just as her bow thrusters fired and kicked her free of the station. The large warship then fired her two primary sunlight engines and raced towards the battlefield.

"Apollo, contact every available warship and order them to form up behind us," Horito ordered.

"Rear Admiral Willis is attempting to assume command of all home fleet assets in lieu of Admiral Harper. I cannot override the orders of home fleet vessels," the AI replied.

"Contact all non home fleet ships and order them to form up, then call Admiral Willis and tell him to get his head out of his ass and get behind my ship because the Covenant are breaking down our front door."

"Aye, Admiral," Apollo said.

"There's something I don't get, why are the Covenant using a field that restricts inbound communications but allows comms inside the field?" Williams mused.

"Whatever it is has to be fairly advanced for something like that; not normal Covenant tech," Horito replied.

"Admiral, Commander, I have been able to find the Covenant fleet using the telescope array, I think you should see this."

Both officers walked over to one of the larger displays as the AI piped in the feed. Thirty or so unidentified ships were escorting a much larger vessel that shouldn't exist. Both knew there were only two Covenant refit stations in existence, both of which were destroyed according to official records.

"Apollo, are those unknowns some kind of Covenant craft?"

A holographic representation appeared of the ships in question, they had a vaguely hook-like appearance, but didn't have the bulbous or smooth contours of Covenant ships.

"Apollo, unlock the secured ONI database on board," Horito ordered.

His avatar flickered into existence on the console the Admiral was facing, "I'm afraid only the ONI liaison officer has permission to access..."

"Emergency AI override, Alpha-3045-Ragnarok. Unlock the ONI database on my authority."

Apollo's avatar froze and flickered as he processed the request, "access granted, Admiral. Use of the emergency AI override and access to secured ONI files has been noted in the ship's log."

"I'll deal with the consequences, identify these ships," Horito ordered.

The display changed and began scrolling detailed data on the ships in question.

"These vessels are an unknown type of Forerunner warship encountered by the UNSC _Spirit of Fire_ in 2531. Their armaments are unknown, but their hull and shield strength are most likely comparable to the Forerunner dreadnought encountered in 2552. Use extreme caution when engaging these vessels."

"Forerunner, sir? The same aliens the Covenant worshiped?" Brannigan asked.

"That bull about the portal in Africa being the only piece of tech left of them was a lie we fed the military and the public. Only flag officers and a few soldiers know at least parts of the true story. We've been finding their ruins for the past 80 years, the _Spirit of Fire_ detonated their FTL reactor in an anchorage of those ships to keep the Covenant from using them on us."

"Sir, I thought the story was the _Spirit's_ slipspace drive was damaged after they destroyed a Covenant ship and were forced to endure a slow journey to Earth?"

"That's bull too I'm afraid, how they actually got home is a tale way above my clearance. All I know is the Forerunners built these massive weapons to wipe out all life in the galaxy and the Covenant were planning to use them."

"Why in the hell would they build something like that?" Brannigan asked.

"They were fighting some kind of parasitic entity called the Flood, those weapons were the only way to defeat them," Horito explained, "course, they were all dead and the Covenant ended up bring them back, though we killed them for good this time."

Brannigan was confused by the tale he'd been told, "sir, how could we cover up something this big?"

"The people were a little more concerned with the war's end than to start asking questions, as for the rest, you saw that horror vid 5 years ago? The one about humans and elites banding together after New Mombasa was overrun by undead zombies?"

Now Brannigan was shocked, "you're telling me that actually happened?"

"Yes, it was the Flood that were the zombies, only it happened in Voi and not New Mombasa," Horito chuckled, "had to be the craziest instance of plausible deniability in human history, but it kept people from asking questions."

"Admiral, Rear Admiral Willis has ceded command of all remaining home fleet assets to you. In addition, UNSC high command has been able to use the secured landlines to get a message to all forces in Sol system. Our orders are to rendezvous in orbit of Luna and await further instructions."

"Well I didn't just get control of all home fleet assets just to let them sit and rot, I'm going in, have all incoming forces head for the Luna rendezvous and get me in contact with Luna base. We'll coordinate a two pronged offensive with my fleet and the ships at Luna along with Luna base's super MACs. We might be able to pin the enemy fleet in range of Earth's ODPs."

"What about that station, sir?" Brannigan asked.

"We'll need fairly big nukes to crack that station's shields, see if any of the land based silos are carrying anything short of a planet cracker. Hell get me any asset we've got on the surface no matter how classified and insignificant."

"Aye, sir."

With that, the second battle for Earth had begun.

**XXX**

Inside the null COM field, the _Livewire_ shadowed the _Unyielding Apocalypse_ and its fleet as it maneuvered through the last of the wrecked UNSC warships.

"It looks like they took shots at range with their weapons," Captain Sinclair mused, "caught them off guard."

"Ma'am, I'm not picking up any fleet signals that indicate reinforcements, I also can't get a hold of the ODPs"

"What!" Sinclair said, "we're well within range by now, why the hell aren't they firing!"

"Our scanners are reading no power emissions from any of the ones in range, its like they're dead in space."

"Find out why," Sinclair ordered, "and keep trying to get through to the other home fleet ships."

"Captain. I think I've got an explanation," one of the bridge officers said, "whatever is jamming our COM also seems to be generating some kind of interference on the inverse frequency of what we use to beam power to the platforms from the groundside generators. Its like they're jamming them too."

"Probably using technology from those ships," Sinclair mused.

At the back of the bridge, Rebbecca and Johnson watched the action unfold.

"There has to be something we can do," Rebbecca said in frustration.

"I know the feeling, but unless you wanna walk outside and knock on that station's front door and give them a big ol' nuclear pie, we're just gonna have to let the navy handle this."

"Uncle, I think you may be a genius," Rebbecca said as she walked up to the Captain.

"Always am," Johnson muttered under his breath.

"Captain, do we have any nuclear weapons aboard?" Rebbecca asked.

Sinclair rotated her chair around to face her, "we do, but we couldn't get close enough to use them. There's no telling if our stealth will work against Forerunner based sensors."

"The translocation devise, could we use it to get a nuke close or even aboard one of those ships, through their shields?" Rebbecca asked.

"I'm sorry, we explored the use of the technology as a weapon's delivery system, we determined it could penetrate shields but the nuke would have to be armed first, its circuitry is effected by some type of energy surge that occurs during transport. The nuke would have no way to explode."

"Send me over then, I'll arm the nuke and then you can bring me back," Rebbecca protested.

"I can't send a Marine on a one way mission, you'd have to bring that nuke to an area where it could do the most damage, navigating through that Covenant infested station. I can't authorize that, I'm sorry."

Rebbecca wasn't happy to hear that, but knew she was right. A single Marine couldn't infiltrate a Covenant station on her own, not without some really good backup.

"Captain, what if I knew a way to get the nuke in there safely?"

**XXX**

"You're in luck, this ship was designed mainly to support ODSTs special ops squads so we had all this stuff on hand," the armory officer explained as Rebbecca finishing zipping into an ODST bodysuit. Next cape the armor pieces and finally the helmet. She signed as she felt the familiar feel of the ODST helmet around her head and the sight of the VISR Mk IV tactical computer system in her faceplate.

"M7S sub machine gun with threaded silencer and red dot optical 3x zoom system," the armory tech said as he handed her the weapon and some extra ammo.

"M6C SOCOM with semi explosive frag rounds," Rebbecca took the weapon as well. She left the armory and walked the short distance to the room that held the translocation equipment. Inside she found the usual staff, as well as Captain Sinclair and Johnson, who was in full battle dress and carried an M7S as well.

"What's going on?" Rebbecca asked.

"I'm not sending you down to HIGHCOM alone either, we've been able to monitor local transmissions and it looks like the Covenant have ground troops on the surface, Sydney specifically. We're guessing their target is The Hive, all HIGHCOM members would have been evacuated there. So Johnson here has volunteered to escort you down."

"And since I technically can't follow orders, there's nothing you or the Captain can do to talk me out of it," Johnson stated.

"You sure you're up for it, old timer?" Rebbecca joked.

"Lets get down there and I'll show you what this damn 'old timer' can still do!"

Sinclair then began a quick mission briefing, "I've been in contact with Admiral Horito who's planning a counter attack within the hour, I want you to get the Spartans out of stasis and ready to deploy to the _Unyielding Apocalypse_ in that time frame. We'll be placing you on the main courtyard at the HIGHCOM campus since we can't get an exact lock on The Hive bunker; another drawback of this tech is that we can't get exact coordinate fixes on something underground."

Rebbecca and Johnson stepped onto the translocation platform, Sinclair gave a small case to Rebbecca.

"Most of the Spartans in stasis down there have certain... complications. They were given experimental drugs that degraded their neural pathways. When they were put into stasis the damage was fairly advanced. In the case is a neural booster that will keep them lucid for up to three hours, there are enough doses for all of the ones affected. You need to be quick about administering them."

"Understood, ma'am."

"Good luck," Sinclair said as she nodded to the techs to initiate the sequence.

Once more, Rebbecca and Johnson were surrounded by the energy rings and whisked away. After three times through, Rebbecca was less queasy when they landed and she was lucky that she wasn't. A full scale battle was underway in the courtyard between UNSC personnel and a Covenant strike force which was hunkered down in the main administration building, firing on the forces outside.

"The hell you two doing! Take cover!" an ODST yelled at them.

Rebbecca and Johnson ran to that trooper's position behind a crashed statue of Preston Cole.

"Gunnery Sergeant Taylor Miles," the ODST introduced himself, "you can just call me Dutch on account of the informal situation. Where the hell did you two come from anyway?"

"Classified, sir," Rebbecca replied, "we have to get inside that building and down to The Hive to retrieve high priority materials critical to blowing that fleet in orbit out of the sky."

"You're in luck, my platoon was assigned to secure the main elevators down there. Only problem is the Covenant got to them first and they're hold up in that building," Dutch informed them. "I've got a group of fire teams flaking behind the main building, hopefully we can draw their snipers fire enough for us to blow through them."

"Sounds like a plan," Johnson said, "just like the good old days."

"Mickey, where the hell is that distraction!" Dutch asked over the COM.

"_I'm working on it, boss, a wraith's got us pinned down, I'm gonna need to improvise here."_

"Improvise faster!" Dutch yelled through the COM.

"Gunny, what kind of ordinance do we have available?" Johnson asked Dutch.

"A couple of rocket launchers we were planning to use to soften the Covenant up with, its not going to get us through their defenses if Mickey doesn't give us a distraction," Dutch explained. "The army guys brought that with them, but their el-tee got fragged before he could open it."

Dutch was pointing to a case lying next to the aforementioned rocket launchers, bearing the UNSC logo and various warning for high powered weapon.

"We've been a little busy trying hold this position to work on opening it," Dutch further elaborated.

"Let me have a try", Rebbecca said as she drew her pistol and carefully took aim at the locking mechanism at the front.

"Whoa! Watch it," Dutch cautioned as Rebbecca fired and destroyed the locking device. The semi explosive round kicked the case open and revealed the weapon inside, a UNSC plasma laser. The weapon was designed after technological exchanges between the UNSC and the Elites; it was derived from the Spartan laser and the Covenant Spec Ops issue plasma launcher. It had the ability to fire both a stream of plasma as fine as a laser beam, or launch lobs of unstable plasma for an explosive effect; although the latter used up the entire power supply.

"Corporal, you know how to use that thing?" Dutch asked.

"Yes, sir, but only in training scenarios."

"Well think of this as a live fire exercise, blast the snipers on the second level and I'll have my rifleman take out the forward barricade."

"I got you covered," Johnson said as Rebbecca shouldered the plasma laser. Johnson fired a burst from his SMG at the second floor windows. The jackal snipers took cover as Rebbecca lied the laser up with the broke out windows of the second floor. She switched over to plasma bombardment mode and pressed the trigger. Five blood red balls of plasma leaped from the Marines position and flew straight into the second floor; striking the ceiling above the still crouched jackal snipers. The explosion took care of the snipers and rained fiery debris down on the brutes and grunts manning the blockades at the front entrance. Dutch's riflemen began firing on the survivors before two rockets finished off the Covenant position and left the main entrance clear.

"All squads, move up!" Dutch ordered over the COM.

The surviving ODSTs, 26 in total plus Rebbecca and Johnson advanced quickly to the main entrance. The ODSTs lobbed a couple grenades inside before a fire team went in and moped up any surviving Covenant. Dutch, Rebbecca and Johnson entered last, by this time the rest of the ODST platoon arrived and Mickey was at the lobby console trying to get the elevator doors open.

"Boss, I've gotten the emergency override online, but none of the elevators are responding," Mickey reported.

"That means the Covenant got down there first," Johnson said, "do you have any rappelling gear?"

"No one is going anywhere just yet," Dutch said, "I just got off the horn with regional command, I have orders to hold this building and await Army reinforcements; they're sending in a team to secure The Hive."

"Gunny, we've got orders to get in there ASAP," Johnson said.

"Army command knows you're retired, Johnson, you can't give orders."

"I have the orders, Gunnery Sergeant," Rebbecca spoke up, "they were issued by Admiral Horito, they can't be overridden; I've gotta get down there."

"I never liked the Army anyway," Dutch said, "Mickey, get the climbing gear out."

**

* * *

**

August 19, 2572

**Location: Lunar orbit- UNSC _Yamato_**

"Three more battlegroups have arrived from the outer Sol system. The Tantalus system fleet is en route and will arrive in sixteen hours. In addition, the Sangheili second fleet of divine defense has responded to our distress calls and will arrive in twenty hours."

"Not good enough, Apollo," Admiral Horito said, "we have 59 ships already, it might just be enough."

"Admiral, with all due respect," Lieutenant Williams interjected, "the ships are just sitting there, they're not even glassing the surface. We should wait for the reinforcements before attacking."

"Lieutenant, in case you didn't notice thirty ships have already been destroyed and half the ODPs have been neutralized," Commander Brannigan pointed out. "Not to mention there are enemy troops running amok at UNSC headquarters!"

"That's enough, gentlemen!" Horito said, "Lieutenant I appreciate your input, but we can't go by the book. In fifteen minutes the MAC guns at Luna Base will be in range, we need to launch a preliminary strike by then."

The Luna military base was armed with thirty long range missile silos and three super MACs buried under the lunar surface, in addition to the twenty fighter squadrons stationed there. The base essentially made the moon into another ODP.

"Begin moving the fleet out of orbit, prepare to advance on Earth," Horito ordered. "Launch fighters."

The Yamato's complement of FSS-1000 Sabre starfighters raced from the hanger decks of the great ship. Initially they had been a highly classified prototype mass produced in secret on Reach, and were the subject of many conspiracy theories due to the sloppy job at keeping it classified. They had been deployed during the fall of Reach and due to the fact the schematics had been left on Reach, the Sabre was feared lost. However expeditions hoping to salvage materials from the destroyed fleet stumbled across a damaged but intact Sabre that had been disabled. From it, they had managed to begin reproducing it and its all important first generation spacecraft shield generator. Due to their high costs, Sabre production is slow but is slowly beginning to replace the venerable Longswords as the UNSC's primary starfighter.

"Fighter launches are occurring across the fleet and we've gotten in contact with air bases in Eastern Asia, we'll have extra fighters to open up another front," Brannigan reported.

"Excellent, have them engage any transports heading from the Covenant flagship to the surface. I'm sure the Marines in Sydney will be glad to have it," Horito said.

"Admiral, Luna base has a MAC solution on the Covenant flagship, our fleet is also reporting MAC and missile locks on other vessels."

"Engage at will, make sure the fleet uses non nuclear payloads, we can't risk EMP damage to the ODPs and satellite grid."

Over 60 MAC slugs were accelerated from the UNSC fleet toward the Covenant armada; hot on their tails were thousands of missiles and hundreds of Sabres and Longswords. The MAC slugs struck first, doing no discernible damage to any of the Forerunner ships and merely skimming of the shields of the Covenant battlestation.

"Initial MAC strike had no discernible effect on their shields that my sensors can detect," Apollo reported.

"That had to be a multiple teraton impact!" Brannigan exclaimed.

"We'll hit 'em with the super MACs, have Luna base fire everything they've got in their arsenal," Horito ordered.

The moon had just entered an optimal orbital position to attack with its MAC guns and missile silos, and so unleashed a massively destructive payload. The three slugs struck first, all targeted for the Covenant battlestation, and like the others either bounced off or shattered on impact with the shields.

Brannigan was even more shocked, "What the hell is it gonna take to kill them?

"Apollo, order all ships to switch to nukes and have Luna base load a full salvo of Shivas, this is on my authority," Horito said, knowing full well the excess EMP emissions would wreak havoc on the disabled ODPs and other technology not properly shielded.

"The Yamato's missile tubes have been loaded with Shiva class nuclear devises, similar load outs are reported across the fleet," Apollo stated, "wait, Admiral, the Covenant battlestation is realigning its position, they may be breaking orbit."

"We might have done some damage, they might be retreating," Horito suggested, "prepare a missile spread..."

"Wait, their orbit is stationary, but the station is rotating its orientation," Apollo provided a 3D representation on the holotable. The AI highlighted a previously unseen structure on the axial pole of one of the two asteroids.

"What the hell is that?" Brannigan asked as he stared at the readout.

"Infrared sensors are detecting a buildup of..."

A massive energy beam left from the structure and pierced its way through space, straight at Luna base. The beam passed the Yamato's fleet and struck the exact center of the base, continuing on and passing through the moon causing massive damage. The base had been vaporized and a full eighth of the moon broke off.

"My god," was all Horito could say as they watched the holographic representation of the moon.

"All communications with all lunar surface installations have ceased, remote sensors are recording massive seismic aftershocks across the surface," Apollo reported, "the Covenant station is reorienting its position, the weapon emitter is now facing the Earth."

Admiral Horito and Commander Brannigan could only watch as the Covenant station fired a consistent beam of energy at the surface of Earth.

"Where the hell are thy firing!" Horito barked.

"Southern Australia near the city of Adelaide," Apollo reported, "the beam appears to be glassing the ocean, massive evaporation is occurring."

"Apollo, what happens if this beam penetrates the crust and interacts with the mantle?" Brannigan asked.

"I do not believe it is powerful enough to do so, the beam only penetrates a few kilometers into the crust," Apollo said, "the station is shifting position, the beam strength remains unaltered. The station is moving slowly, dragging the beam eastward. Sir, if my calculations are correct the beam will wipe out Sydney in less than thirty minutes.

"My god, they'll kill everyone still inside the command bunker, all of HIGHCOM and the military hierarchy in one swoop!" Horito exclaimed. "Order all ships to begin nuclear bombardment."

**

* * *

**

August 19, 2572

**Location: Earth, Australia- UNSC high command bunker "The Hive"**

"All set," Rebbecca said after she finished setting up a COM relay at the bottom of the elevator shaft. Johnson was in the lobby, guarding against a possible attack. The lobby was in shambles which indicated the Covenant managed to get through, and considering the number of security personnel that were stationed in The Hive, the invasion force was considerable.

"Send a message back up, let Dutch know the Covenant stampeded the hell out of this place," Johnson said.

Before Rebbecca could send a message, both she and Johnson were knocked off their feet by massive vibrations.

"You ok?" Johnson asked as she helped Rebbecca up.

"I'm good," Rebbecca replied, "I thought most bunkers were supposed to be earthquake proof?"

"_Stevens, Johnson, you alright down there?"_ Dutch asked over the COM.

"We're in one piece," Gunny, Johnson said, "what the hell's going on?"

"_Regional command has ordered an evacuation, says the Covenant fleet is glassing Australia with some new weapon. It'll wipe out Sydney and The Hive_," Dutch warned them, "_if you start back up now you'll make it in time to catch the evac Pelicans."_

"Negative on that, we've gotta complete our mission," Johnson replied.

"Look, I admire your dedication, but that place is going to be turned into molten slag in less than half an hour."

"We've got a mission to complete and our own way out," Johnson said, "I appreciate the concern, Gunny. Get your own people out of there."

"_God speed you two,"_ Dutch said before the COM was terminated.

"We've gotta hurry," Johnson said as the two ran past the smashed security checkpoint and into the main atrium they had been in only a day earlier. Rebbecca could just remember being surrounded by fellow ODSTs and almost in Ackerson's clutches. Now, that same atrium was in shambles, bodies of Marines scattered near a hallway where a hastily erected barrier had been smashed.

"The Covenant are probably swarming the lower levels by now," Rebbecca said.

"This way," Johnson said as he led them away from the elevators to the cryo chamber and down toward the office wing.

"Uncle, we're not going the right way," Rebbecca pointed out.

"Yes we are," Johnson replied.

They walked for five minutes until they came to a familiar set of doors, Captain Al-Cygni's office. Johnson kicked them open, ready for anything that might be inside. Her office was like the rest of the bunker, in shambles. The holographic screen that displayed a fake skyline was flickering on and off due to the bullet damage it sustained.

"Wait, bullets, not plasma," Rebbecca said aloud.

"Damn it, Ackerson's cronies must ave gotten to her before shit went to hell," Johnson dejectedly said.

"Hey, this is Aunt Jilan we're talking about here, Uncle. She wouldn't let herself get cornered without an escape plan."

"Yeah, I wanna check for a message though." Johnson sat down at her desk and activated her display. A message followed by a question popped up: 'to access save file answer question 'where we first did it''. Johnson chuckled and typed in 'cargo freighter bridge'.

"Ew, really?" Rebbecca commented.

"It was a different time, young lady," Johnson replied.

A video message popped up and began to play. Jilan was sitting in her office, alarms were blaring and shouts could be heard.

"_Avery, if you've found this it means you didn't find me in here, I don't have much time so listen carefully. A few hours after you left shit hit the fan here; Ackerson made his move during a presentation to HIGHCOM. All of the Marine guards were plants... they killed every last Admiral and General in that room."_

"Damn it," Rebbecca said.

"_Not long after that, a Covenant fleet showed up in orbit, bypassed all the early warning nets and somehow disabled the orbital defense grid. They had fleet positions, COM channels, the frequency of our ODP power transmissions; its the only way they could have gotten the upper hand. I and a few others backtracked all COM logs; Avery, I think it was Ackerson who gave them the data."_

"I thought he wanted to take over the UNSC, not destroy it," Rebbecca said.

"I think he was hoping to wipe all the higher ups out, most of our high ranking admirals were either in this building or in orbit," Johnson said.

"_I know it sounds crazy, but we don't send all our high ranking people out of Sol anymore. Ackerson was probably planning for mass confusion, the perfect scenario of mass confusion to assert control over. You've gotta stop him, and if you're going to do that then I imagine you need the Spartans. I'll give you the access code to get in, but you'll need a retinal pattern of someone authorized. This is gonna sound morbid, but if you get one of the eyes from the dead admirals it should get you inside the cryo chamber. Good luck."_

The message ended and the code to get inside flashed on the screen. Rebbecca placed a hand on Johnson's shoulder to reassure him.

"She's probably a thousand miles away in some other bunker by now," she said to him, "we've gotta go."

"You're probably right," Johnson replied as he got up out of the chair. The pair continued through the empty bunker, coming across more bodies, in some cases torn to sheds. They came across very few Covenant bodies, and they were mostly grunts and drones. Thankfully the auxiliary elevators were working and they were able to make it to the HIGHCOM briefing room; they had barely fifteen minutes before the Covenant glassed the city. They arrived at the corridor containing various memorabilia of wars past, and arrived at the double doors to the HIGHCOM briefing room.

"Wait here and keep an eye out for Covenant," Johnson said as he slung his rifle and drew his combat knife. "No offense, but this isn't something a green Marine should see."

"None taken, just make it quick."

Johnson went inside the room while Rebbecca kept a tight grip on her SMG, scanning for threats. It was surprising that they hadn't come across any Covenant, but wasn't about to question her luck either. Suddenly, her motion scanner detected a sliver of movement to her right; in basic they told her partial contact usually equaled active camo. Rebbecca dropped to a crouch and scanned down the hall with her weapon, she slowly began advancing until she saw the source of the movement, more dead bodies crushed under a decorative pillar; one wasn't so dead.

"Who's there?" a hoarse voice called out.

"Hold on, I'll get you out," Rebbecca said. She slung her rifle and grabbed hold of the pillar and pulled. The man underneath pushed up with all his strength and Rebbecca was able to roll the pillar off of him. Rebbecca offered a hand and helped the man up, then slammed him into the wall when she realized who it was.

"What the hell..." he was cut off as Rebbecca pressed the barrel of her pistol to his cheek.

"Ackerson, out of anyone who could have survived it had to be you!" Rebbecca said.

"Well isn't this a surprise, Corporal Stevens in the flesh. I thought you ran away cowering..."

Rebbecca slapped her gun across his face and Ackerson was knocked back to the floor. Rebbecca kicked him in his side and he rolled onto his back as Rebbecca pointed her gun at him.

"This is your fault! All of it!" She yelled at him.

"Well I don't know exactly who's been whispering in your ear, but what you don't understand is your duty to protect humanity. That's what I've been doing, even if it means consorting with the enemy to achieve that. This military is corrupt and I'm well on the way to purging its leadership."

"That doesn't justify this!"

Rebbecca tightened her grip oh her pistol, ready to kill the delusional maniac on the floor before her. Ackerson had killed so many, and committed so many crimes that he only deserved death; why shouldn't she be the one to do it? He was planning sick things for her, so why not just kill him.

"Rebbecca, don't kill him."

She looked up to see Johnson standing there, clutching a bloody plastic bag that held the eye he'd just harvested from a dead Admiral.

"Uncle, you and I know what he's done."

"You think I don't know that?" Johnson said, "but if you kill him here, now, everything he did will never be exposed. You want him to suffer, then we give him a nice public trial so everyone knows the name of the biggest traitor in history."

Rebbecca could see the logic in Johnson's suggestion, so she lowered her weapon. Johnson moved in and forced Ackerson on his stomach so he could bound him with some pare climbing rope. After frisking him to make sure he didn't have a knife or anything he could cut himself free with. Johnson hauled Ackerson to his feet and made him march in front of him and Rebbecca to the auxiliary elevators which they took to the cryo theater. Once they got to the door Johnson gave Rebbecca the code and eye and told her to open the door. She was feeling a little queasy, but kept her composure as she held the severed eye to the retina scanner.

"Access granted," the computer replied as the doors opened and the trio quickly got inside. Rebbecca sealed the door just to make sure they weren't interrupted by any stray Covenant.

"You're waking the Spartans?" Ackerson asked.

"To clean up the mess you started," Johnson said, "but don't worry, we'll get it all sorted out and you back to prison to see your shower daddy soon enough."

"Despite your immature understanding of the situation, Sergeant, none of this was supposed to happen," Ackerson said," they were supposed to attack HIGHCOM after I left."

"And you think we're supposed to feel sorry for you just because you got caught in the middle of your own sick plan?" Rebbecca asked. "Get over by the wall and shut up."

Ackerson did as he was told as Rebbecca and Johnson accessed the main terminal in the room.

"This isn't good, it keeps giving me an error message," Rebbecca said, "we should have brought a tech expert with us."

"I think if I mess with it enough I can find some kind of manual override or release," Johnson said.

"I do have some knowledge of these systems," Ackerson said, "however I am tied up at the moment."

"You, honestly wanting to help? I thought I told you to shut up," Rebbecca yelled at him.

"If you're trying to wake the Spartans then something serious has gone wrong with the Covenant attack," Ackerson said, "something that I didn't agree to or foresee happening."

"You mean to tell us that you didn't give a Covenant battlestation and its fleet of Forerunner ships they keys to our defenses for your own selfish gains?" Johnson asked.

"Wait, what Forerunner ships?" Ackerson asked. "I was told all he had was a battlestation with a Forerunner weapon."

"Well it was a hell of a lot more than that, Rebbecca said, "they'll glass the planet unless we can infiltrate the station, and we need Spartans to do that."

"Untie me and I'll help, I swear. I was used and lied to, that's something I don't appreciate."

Johnson moved to go to Ackerson but Rebbecca grabbed his arm. "Are you sure about this?" she asked quietly.

"I have no idea how to operate this thing, he might, just keep an eye on him."

Johnson freed Ackerson and sat him down at the control station and began shifting through the computer.

"I think I know the problem," Ackerson said, "the cryo units are loosing power. The computer is trying to regulate the system to keep them alive and at the same time its rerouting power to keep critical bunker systems online."

"Why doesn't the AI just wake them?" Rebbecca asked.

"Its offline and all systems have been switched to backup processors, which don't have the intelligence of even a dumb AI."

"Well that's what auxiliary power is for, turn it on," Johnson ordered.

"The Covenant have sabotaged the auxiliary power systems and are in the process of taking out the main power, that's what this loss is about," Ackerson said. "They're doing it to kill the Spartans."

"Why would they cut the power rather than come in here and kill them themselves?" Rebbecca asked.

"Because I told them the Spartans were donw here," Ackerson said, which earned him a slap on the head from Rebbecca.

"I didn't tell them where this room was, so rather than search they're just going to cut the power to make sure no one can do what you're trying to do," Ackerson said while rubbing his head. "I think I can stay ahead of them and get them awake before we loose power completely."

The lights in the room started to flicker and the computer screen began experiencing distortions.

"We're loosing power fast, at this rate the Spartans will be dead in a minute," Ackerson said.

"Start the emergency release!" Rebbecca said.

"I'm trying but the computer is loosing power," Ackerson said as he wildly tapped in commands to stay ahead of the power loss.

"Damn it!" Rebbecca said as she ran over to the row of cryotubes and wiped the frost off of one of them. Inside was a person inside an unfamiliar armor, not ones she'd seen in her history textbooks that the Spartans wore. Rebbecca began banging her SMG on the strengthen glass to break it open.

"If you do that you'll kill them, they can't handle the sudden change in temperature before resuscitation," Ackerson warned.

Rebbecca continued to try and break the glass, but her futile efforts were interrupted by a whine from the vital monitors; the spartan had just flatlined. Rebbecca looked to the tubes on the left and right, same deal, they were dead.

"Are they all dead... are they all dead!" She yelled at Ackerson.

Ackerson had just finished entering a command into the computer before he leaned back in the chair, "all but one."

The cryotube at the end of the row was still online had began the emergency revival process. The lid cracked open and a fine mist vented out, the lid rose up and revealed a lone spartan who began to stir. He flexed his gauntlets before sitting up and getting out of the tube; looking around the room he figured something was wrong with the presence of an ODST, a civilian and a retired Sergeant. Turning to Johnson he said only one thing.

"I need a weapon."


	29. Chapter 28: armageddon

**Message from the General: **So this is the end of not only my little story franchise, but another great franchise is meeting its end. I'm not sure how many of you readers are Stargate fans, or if you've heard the news, but Stargate Universe has been canceled and with it the Stargate franchise has come to an abrupt end. Its always been an inspiration to me when writing and I believe it to be right up there with Star Trek and Star Wars in terms of greatness; it will be missed. And now we must move into the final chapter of this tale, so hang on for the final ride of death and destruction.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Halo, all OCs are mine**

**Chapter 28: Armageddon**

**August 19, 2572**

**Location: Earth orbit- UNSC _Yamato_ **

Another bright nuclear flash enveloped a Forerunner ship as a nuke got through and detonated, but like so many nukes before it the Forerunner ship was unharmed by the blast.

"That's only the sixth nuke to break through their weapons fire," Brannigan said, "sir, we're just not causing enough damage."

"Start rotating fighters in, we'll equip them with nukes and have them fly point blank at them," Horito grimly ordered, he knew it was time to ask his pilots to die.

Brannigan gulped and muttered, "yes, sir" before moving to issue the appropriate orders.

Horito looked back at the holotable, Apollo had the tactical map laid out; the fleet was holding position a few hundred kilometers above the enemy fleet. The Forerunner ships had bunched up to form a protective phalanx over the Covenant battlestation which prevented him from striking a blow at their flagship. Reinforcements were starting to slip in system, however Horito had to order a full half of the incoming ships to Luna to deal with the desperate situation there. It would take several hours for enough reinforcements to arrive to form a full second front he could use, and by then the battle would be lost.

"Apollo, get me the prowler _Livewire_ on secured COM." Horito grabbed an earpiece from the table and put it in his ear. "Captain Sinclair, give me some good news."

"_We received the transponder signal just a minute ago, we're trying to extracting the team now but we're having difficulties."_

"Elaborate, Captain."

"_Our translocation device is getting interference from the glassing beam, at this rate we have less than fiver minutes to achieve transport before the bunker is destroyed."_

"You'd better get them out soon, we're at the point that a suicide run is our only option."

**

* * *

**

August 19, 2572

**Location: Earth, Australia- UNSC high command bunker "The Hive"**

"Good old, chief," Johnson said.

"Johnson, what's going on, I thought you retired?"

"I did, but you what they say about desperate times," Johnson replied. "We're under attack, chief. I don't have time to explain."

"What happened to the other Spartans?" Rebbecca asked Ackerson.

"They're dead, what do you think happened?" Ackerson replied in a smug tone.

Rebbecca walked over to Ackerson and asked "How?"

"In order to revive the Master Chief I had to get extra power to the emergency systems, I took it from the pods," Ackerson told her.

"Son of a bitch!", Rebbecca leaped over the console, grabbed Ackerson by the throat and threw him against the wall. Ackerson grabbed her arm and prepared to wrench it behind her back if it wasn't for Rebbecca putting her SMG into his gut.

"We needed all of them!" She yelled at him.

"They were defective, expendable soldiers well past their expiration date," Ackerson retorted, "I did you a favor."

"I had a cure!" she put the now useless medicine in his face, "I could have helped them!"

Johnson got in between the two and forced Rebbecca off of him, "we'll add it to the list of charges against him, right now we need to go."

Rebbecca had almost forgotten that the bunker was about to be destroyed by the Covenant's new weapon.

"Chief, get over here."

The Master Chief joined the trio as Johnson took out the transmitter and activated it; nothing happened. Johnson repeatedly hit the button to send the signal to the_ Livewire_, still nothing.

"Come on, we gotta get outta here," Rebbecca said.

The lights in the room suddenly went out, and Rebbecca's radiation meter on her VISR started to fluctuate. They had only a few seconds until the plasma obliterated the bunker, she could already feel the vibrations in her feet. She didn't want to die down here, especially with Ackerson. At the last moment the familiar feel of the translocation device enveloped her and the others and whisked them away to the safety of the prowler.

"What the hell is this?" Sinclair looked at the platform where the four had just rematerialized and was surprised to see Ackerson.

"He's responsible for this mess," Rebbecca said.

"Why am I not surprised. Security."

A pair of guards entered the room and took Ackerson into custody. After that was dealt with she turned to Rebbecca and the sole Spartan she'd managed to retrieve.

"There had to be at least a dozen Spartans down there, what the hell happened?" Sinclair asked.

"Its a long story, sufficed to say Ackerson killed everyone but The Chief here," Johnson said.

"The Chief? As in _the_ Master Chief?" Sinclair asked, "well out of all the Spartans we could have gotten, at least it was you."

"I'm ready to serve, ma'am," The Chief stated, "how long has it been since I was put into stasis?

"Only twelve years, Master Chief," Sinclair told him, "I wish we had time to give you a full briefing, but time is of the essence. I want you and Corporal Stevens to report to the armory to gear up and be back here in five minutes. Johnson, I can't ask you to go on from here."

"You don't need to, I volunteer again," Johnson said.

"Who am I to turn you down in a situation like this, gear up and be back here in five minutes."

**XXX**

"One Spartan, Captain? That's all you managed to get?"

"_Admiral, there were some circumstances that will all be made clear in my official report. Sufficed to say, this may actually work to our advantage."_

Captain Sinclair was giving a brief report to Admiral Horito shortly after the team had returned from the surface. Elsewhere on the bridge, Brannigan was near the holotable going over the recent damage from the attack with however many officers aboard held scientific degrees.

"Captain, we've been unable to cause any significant damage to the enemy fleet," Horito grimly told her. "I'm about to implement a last ditch plan to stop them; I can give you a maximum of thirty minutes to take out the Covenant flagship. Because in thirty minutes we'll either win or loose this battle."

Horito cut the comlink and walked over to Brannigan near the holotable.

"Commander, I want helm to plot a course straight through the enemy fleet. Have the fleet form a defensive phalanx around the _Yamato_ and order all of our nukes into the missile tubes."

Brannigan saw the look on the Admiral's face, and didn't need the explanation of his battle plan to know that this was an endgame maneuver. Either the Covenant went down, or they would.

**XXX**

The Master Chief slapped a magazine into an MA5C, thankful that it was still the standard service rifle for the UNSC. He also loaded a backpack with a disassembled sniper rifle with extra ammo; he was no master of the rifle that Linda was, but was still proficient. Johnson and the ODST who rescued him were also loading up, switching out their weapons for a more silent package for the mission at hand.

"You doing ok, Chief?" Johnson asked as he came over and grabbed an assault rifle.

"Just fine, Johnson."

"Cryo seems to be a regular routine with you," Johnson remarked, "guess we should have known better than to think the Covenant would go away quietly."

"Have you heard anything from the other Spartans, or Doctor Halsey?" The Chief asked as he unpacked a carton of frag grenades.

"Sorry Chief, I had other priorities at the time," he said with a nod to Rebbecca.

"Her? The ODST?," it took a moment to get what Johnson was referring to. "She's Kyle's daughter?"

"I know you and ODSTs got some bad blood, hard to believe the kid of two Spartans could go on to become one," Johnson remarked.

"Times have changed," The Chief replied.

The door to the armory opened and an officer came in with a large case and a satchel around his neck. He set both of them down on the table and unpacked the satchel first, pulling a datapad from it.

"This is a class 3 infiltration pad programed with AI designed hacking protocols, should allow you access to their computer networks undetected. You can get past locked doors, but that's about the extent of what you can do without being detected and locked out."

"Not exactly an AI, but it'll do," the Master Chief said. Rebbecca took possession of the datapad and placed it in her backpack. The officer then opened the large case and revealed their ace in the hole, a nuclear warhead.

"HAVOK Mark VII, 90 megaton yield. It should be enough to cripple that battlestation, but we don't know the extent of its abilities so be sure to plant it somewhere where it can do maximum damage."

"I'll take that," Johnson said as he pulled the nuke from its case and placed it in his pack.

"The Captain wants you down in the translocation room in two minutes," the officer said before leaving.

"You all set?" Johnson asked The Chief.

The Spartan pulled a plasma laser from the weapons rack and affixed it to his back plate. "Now I am"

**

* * *

**

August 19, 2572

**Location: Earth orbit- Covenant station _Unyielding Apocalypse _**

Using rough blueprints taken from the mission records of Operation: First Strike, the _Livewire_ was able to align its translocation device to transport the trio inside the battlestation. This was a risky move since the biggest drawback of the reverse engineered technology was it had to use a combination of radio transmitters and line to sight to go from point A to B, they had neither in this case. They successfully materialized in a natural passageway inside one of the two asteroids that comprised the bulk of the station; however upside down.

"Ouch," Rebbecca muttered as subconsciously rubbed the back of her helmet, forgetting she couldn't reach the back of her head.

"Shake it off, Marine," said Johnson as he craned his neck and put his cap back on.

The Master Chief of course, was unharmed and had already checked both sides of the passageway for hostiles. This way he said, I'm picking up radiation surges this direction, might be the power source for their weapon.

"Alright, lets get a move on then," Johnson said.

The Chief took point with Rebbecca bringing up the rear and Johnson carrying the all important nuke in between the two. After just a few minutes of walking, they came upon the massive hollowed out part of the asteroid. The Master Chief was expecting something similar to the atrium type rooms he saw on the _Unyielding Hierophant_, but this one was on the order of several times the size of the one he saw.

"Oxygen levels are getting dangerously low in here," Rebbecca said after VISR flashed a warning. Pulling a emergency respirator mask from her pack, she handed it to Johnson as he was the only one on the team without a helmet.

"I think I know why the oxygen in here is all but gone," The Chief said as he pointed to the bottom of the large cavern. All across the bottom, was a massive lake of murky water with various plant life strewn about, bubbles rose to the surface and expelled massive amounts of methane gas; it was one giant swamp. On the ceiling was an even more massive structure that appeared to be organic in origin, large clouds darted around it, and upon zooming in with her VISR, Rebbecca saw they were actually swarms of drones.

"Its a farm," Rebbecca declared, "a breeding farm, that's how the Covenant are replenishing their losses, they're letting the grunts and drones breed like mad." She still remembered her high school anatomy classes about both the grunts and drones tendency to reproduce massively in an ideal environment; the swamp made perfect sense as did the giant drone colony.

"There," The Chief said as he pointed to a structure in the middle of the swamp, it had the tell tale architecture of the forerunners. A central column extended from the top of the structure into the rock face of the ceiling, no doubt all the way to the weapon emitter on the surface.

"If we put the nuke in there we might be able to take the whole station with it," The Chief concluded.

"Yes but I'm not planning to take a swim through that dirty ass swamp just to get there." Johnson quipped, "Chief, give me your rifle, I'll scout ahead and see if I can find an alternative to get there."

Johnson removed his pack as The Chief assembled his rifle and handed it over to the old Marine. He gave a two fingered salute before darting off down the rock face to find them a way inside.

"We've got twenty minutes before the _Yamato_ attacks this place," Rebbecca said, "if he can't find a way to get us inside we'll have to plant the nuke here and get out."

"It might not cause enough damage," The Chief said, "who knows what the asteroid has been reinforced with, not to mention new capabilities of their shields. No, if we're gonna bring this place down, it has to be from that structure."

"Agreed," Rebbecca said.

The Master Chief looked over at the girl who had changed since the last and only time he ever saw her. No longer was she reclusive, nor was her understanding of what had befallen her parents. How and why she joined the ODSTs was a complete and downright weird mystery to The Chief.

"Why the helljumpers?" He asked.

"You mean why I joined up?" Rebbecca asked, "the Marines treated my Uncle right, figured they do the same for me."

"Did you ever wonder how your father might feel?" John asked her, owing to the bad blood between the ODSTs and the Spartans, a feud he himself started.

"I didn't know who my father and mother really were until yesterday," Rebbecca said, ignoring the fact that The Chief had found out who she really was.

"How much do you know now?" He asked.

"Everything, where my father was really from, and how he and my mother died," Rebbecca said, "and you know what the biggest irony of it all is, I'm not sure I even wanted to know."

Rebbecca sat down on a rock overlooking the chamber, "ever since I was a little girl I had always wanted to know what happened to them. That made me bitter and it made me tough over the years, made me who I am. Now I have to wonder if its just because I have freaky Spartan genes in my system, that everything I've ever done or achieved is just because my parents were superhumans and that I'm descended from a Forerunner; that I had all these unfair advantages to begin with. Now I know why the ODSTs see me as a freak and why Ackerson thinks I'm some sort of lab specimen."

Everything that Rebbecca had gone through in the past days was finally compounding in on her, reality was setting in for the Marine. Things were almost a blur now; even the fact she was spilling her guts to the legendary Master Chief of all people had eluded her.

"I'm not a shrink, nor do I think this is the best time to be having a personal crisis, but what I do know is that what you do here and now is going to define you, not who your parents were," The Chief said to her.

"_Chief, Rebbecca,"_ Johnson said over the COM, "_I think I've got our way in."_

**XXX**

"Apollo, contact the fleet and have them form a flying wedge around the _Yamato_. Tell them they can only break formation to intercept weapons fire heading toward the flagship."

"Aye, sir" the AI calmly replied, unshaped by the practically suicidal order it was about to issue.

"Nukes are loaded, Admiral, we can fire as soon as we're in range."

"Very well, full power to the engines, take us right down their throats."

The massive _Yamato_ lurched forward and slowly gain speed, the rest of her fleet forming a protective and sacrificial shield around the battleship. The Covenant of course noticed this and ten of the Forerunner ships broke formation to face down the UNSC fleet. It wasn't long before they started exchanging fire, the UNSC ships taking the brunt of the attack. The _Yamato _was unscathed in the first volley thanks to the sacrifice of a dozen ships. The _Yamato'_s fleet now had a hole in its protective wedge, and the next volley would surely cripple the mighty ship.

"Tactical, fire MACs one and two followed by a spread of sparrow missiles, on the double!" Horito had to punch through those ships.`

The twin canons of the _Yamato_ opened fire on one of the forerunner ships, momentary knocking it out of position from the force of impact, but otherwise doing no damage. Fifty sparrow missiles, each carrying a small 2 kiloton nuclear yield, left the Yamato and impacted the Forerunner fleet, who otherwise shrugged off the damage.

"Admiral, we should use our main nukes," Brannigan said.

No, we need to save them for the battlestation. Helm, put the Yamato into a counterclockwise spin, we might be able to confuse their targeting scanners." Horito knew that Forerunner sensors were light years beyond their own and would easily be able to compensate for an erratic target like the Yamato.

"Sir," Lieutenant Williams at ops said, "five ships have broken formation and are heading for the enemy formation... my god, their course is ballistic!"

Admiral Horito could only watch from the holotable as the five ships, three destroyers, a cruiser and a frigate accelerated toward one enemy ship each. "Order the rest of the fleet to target each of those enemy ships, maybe we can get lucky."

Two of the destroyers were cut down before they could ram their targets, but the other three ships hit their mark and exploded as their nuclear ordinance and reactors went up. Hot on their tails were a fresh wave of MAC slugs and missiles with a few nukes added for good measure. One of the Forerunner ships, the one rammed by the cruiser, broke apart under the strain of the weapons fire. A few cheers rang out on the bridge as the Forerunner ship was destroyed. The other two ships were most likely weakened severely, but probably not for long.

"Contact in one minute," the helmsmen called out.

"All hands, brace for collision," Horito was prepared to ram his way through the ships, but thankfully it wasn't necessary. Several energy beams struck multiple Forerunner ships from above, followed by multiple close range detonations of nukes that shook the Yamato and its fleet as they passed through the carnage. A few ships collided with the Forerunner fleet as they passed through, but the Yamato and most of its escorts were unscathed. Several fresh UNSC ships formed up with the fleet, along with a few Sangheili ships, several more sat disabled above the Forerunner fleet having expended their energy using their energy projectors.

"Admiral, we're receiving a transmission from the lead ship, its the _Remembrance," _Williams reported.

"Put it through to my COM", Horito said as he put his headset in, "Captain Keyes, your timing is impeccable. Mind telling where you and those Sangheili ships came from?"

"_We were on exercises in Alpha Centauri when we received the recall order, we skipped checking in and transitioned to slipspace to get here as fast as possible. Where do you need us?"_

"Follow the _Yamato_ in and prepare to make us another hole in the Forerunner fleet," Horito said, "if you make it through don't stop until you reach that Covenant station, then give it everything you got."

"_Copy that, sir, I have a score to settle with that particular station."_

**XXX**

Ackerson paced his small cell, cursing the compartmentalized design in prowlers which meant their brigs barely had room for a cot and toilet. He had been tossed in, quite literally, by the guards minutes after arriving aboard. The door to the brig opened and a petty officer stepped in with a meager serving of food on a tray. He motioned to the guard to open Ackerson's cell door, and while the guard had his back turned the officer pulled a silenced pistol from underneath the tray and killed the guard.

"Its about time," Ackerson muttered as the officer opened the door, "Peters I knew slipping you into the _Livewire_ would come in handy one day."

"Yes sir, you did, now if you'll pardon me sir we don't have much time before the guard makes his scheduled check in with security," Peters said.

"Very well," Ackerson said as he stepped out of his cramped cell and over the body of the guard.

"I've preprogramed the translocation device for use, its set to take you to one of our assets near the moon, the _Eclipse_; it should ferry you out of Sol and to safety. All you have to do is activate it once you get down there."

"You've done humanity a great service today, and while our plans may be hampered by what's happened here today, it is a setback we will overcome thanks to people like you," Ackerson said to the man.

"Sir, you may need this," Peters handed Ackerson his silenced pistol, but Ackerson shook his head.

"Son, these people are clever and on a ship this small it won't take them long to figure out who let me go free. You need that weapon more than I, and you know what you must do now."

Peters stood at attention and muttered "yes, sir."

Ackerson nodded to him and promptly left the room. The crew was at battlestations and as such the corridors were clear, meaning Ackerson could make it to the translocation room and get off without incident. Just as he started down the ladder to the level below, there was a thud as Peters' body hit the floor of the brig, dead from a self inflicted gunshot to the head.

**XXX**

The entryway Johnson had discovered was in fact a gravity conveyor similar top the ones the Master Chief used on High Charity to get around and eventually board the Forerunner dreadnought. It was lightly guarded by only a few grunts and a jackal, all of which Johnson took out with the sniper rifle. The Chief and Rebbecca joined Johnson at the entrance, surveying the immediate area.

"Alright, how do we know if the other side is clear or not?" Rebbecca asked as she stood at the threshold of the conveyor.

"Through this," The Chief said as he pulled a lotus mine from his pack and armed it, tossing it into the conveyor where it was shot toward the structure and out of their sight in seconds. A signal received on The Chief's HUD indicating the mine went off.

"You think we should chance it?" Johnson asked, unsure if there were still Covenant waiting for them.

"We have no choice," The Chief said as he leaped into the beam and was shot across the chamber to the Forerunner structure. Johnson went next, carrying the nuke, and Rebbecca followed last covering their rear. As she was sent across the chamber, Rebbecca looked down at the swamps and wondered how many grunts might be down there, possibly looking up and seeing her. They reached the other end in seconds and found the Master Chief policing the bodies of several dead Covenant all of whom were caught in the mine's blast.

"There aren't that many bodies, hopefully these guys won't be missed for long," Johnson said. "Fresh air in here too," he removed his mask.

"How can we be sure there aren't any more waiting for us?" Rebbecca asked before catching a plasma grenade tossed to her by the Master Chief.

"We don't," The Chief said, "there's a door over here, but there's no control console to get it open."

"I'll use the datapad," Rebbecca pulled out the aforementioned device and was able to pickup the Covenant battlenet frequency. Activating the AI written infiltration program, she let the minicomputer do its work. Less than a minute later it chirped indicating local access to the structure they were in. Rebbecca entered a few more commands and got the door opened, the Master Chief quickly swept the hall beyond for hostiles.

"We've got twelve minutes before the _Yamato_ gets here," Rebbecca said checking the countdown on her VISR.

"This place is huge, it might take us three times that to find the power source," Johnson said.

"Then lets plant the nuke here and get out," Rebbecca countered, precious seconds were ticking by.

"The power source could still be shielded, and even then our nuke might not be enough, besides we don't know how long until the Covenant come looking for their guards," The Chief pointed out. "Use the datapad and find us a schematic that we can use to find the power source."

"We run the risk of being detected by the battlenet's anti intrusion systems," Rebbecca cautioned, "but you're right, we don't have a choice."

The ODST entered the necessary commands into the datapad, tasking the risk that the battlenet could easily shut her out. Surprisingly, it returned a result almost right away, and once the map was uploaded to her VISR she discovered they were only a few hundred meters away from a large room that presumably held the power source. She sent a nav marker to the Master Chief's HUD, and the Spartan took point down the hallway leading to the room. Using the same formation, the trio walked the short distance to another door that was also locked. Johnson and The Chief watched both ends of the hall as Rebbecca used the datapad to get the door open, succeeding.

The room they entered was spherical with a massive pedestal in the center of the room. A beam of white light cascaded down from the ceiling and onto the object suspended above the pedestal; Rebbecca couldn't really describe what it was. It was surrounded by a halo of white light, and resembled a swirl from all the white energy flowing into the black mass at its center.

"That's one funky looking battery," Johnson commented as he set the bag with the nuke down in front of it and pulled the weapon out.

"Hold on, Johnson" The Chief said, "I'm picking up some unusual readings from this thing. Light spectrum shits on IR vision." He remembered some of his conceptual physics classes with Deja, and knew that a light shift like this only happened in the presence of time dilation which could come from two sources.

"Corporal, use the datapad and see if you can find out for sure what this really is," the Spartan ordered.

"Chief, we got less than ten minutes to shove this nuke down their ugly throats," Johnson said, "we don't have time."

"And if this thing is what I think it is, we can't risk destroying it," The Chief sounded serious.

Rebbecca decided to follow his suggestion and activated the datapad, searching quickly for anything regarding the power source. Within a minute, the search returned a status display with information on the power supply. She punched in a command to translate the information and got a sinking feeling at the header for the information. Black hole containment field.

"Its a black hole," Rebbecca muttered.

"I was hoping I was wrong," The Chief muttered, "if we destroy this place with the nuke, there's absolutely no guarantee it will destroy the black hole, in fact I don't think it will and we'd just be condemning Earth to total destruction."

"We've gotta do something," Johnson said.

Just as Rebbecca glanced down at the datapad, the reading on the black hole disappeared and was replaced by a message saying the datapad's connection ton the Covenant battlenet had been terminated by the battlenet.

"Guys I think we've just been detected," Rebbecca cautioned.

"Why of course you have."

All three knew the voice was unfamiliar, and somehow coming from behind them. They spun around and saw a man standing just inside the room, holding some kind of weapon. Immediately the trio raised their weapons at him.

"You would not believe how decisively simple it was to scatter your motion detection system, such primitive technology," he said.

Johnson immediately opened fire on this guy, but his bullets impacted some kind of personal shield. The man retaliated by firing his weapon which hit Johnson square in his chest with some kind of blue energy.

"Avery!" Rebbecca cried as she turned and saw him slump to the ground.

The Master Chief charged at him, but suddenly some unseen force yanked the Spartan into the air and hurled him against the far wall. Rebbecca watched in shock as he slammed into the wall and fell ten feet to the floor. Rebbecca spun around to face their foe, but found he was right in front of her, and soon she was lifted up by the same invisible force; she couldn't move as the man walked closer to her. Now that he was closer she could make him out better, and to her shock she discovered he was human. He wore an unfamiliar white suit with a beige vest, and carried an unfamiliar type of weapon, but the most interesting was his strikingly pair of blue eyes, identical to her own. Rebbecca tried to break out of whatever was holding her in place, but to no avail.

"My my, we are a feisty one, to think something so primitive could evolve into our form," he said.

"Fuck you, traitor, you're helping the Covenant to kill your own people," Rebbecca snarled, to his amusement.

"You think I am a member of your pitiful species?" He chuckled, but then made a serious stare at her. "It seems you posses some," he said the last part with disgust, "mystic potential."

He began to stare intently at her, as if he could see her face beneath her helmet and all the way into her soul. Her vision tunneled into blackness, and she felt like she was set adrift on an endless sea, unable to move or call out. Suddenly, she was back in her body as a vista materialized around her, which she recognized as her childhood home. Her parents were right in front of her, her father holding a toddler version of herself up; this was them teaching her how to walk. The warm memory brought her some brief happiness before it dissolved and was replaced by another memory, her first day at boot camp. The rest of her memories of ODST training flashed in random succession, the accident aboard the destroyer that got her promotion to Corporal, and finally the standoff at UNSC headquarters with Ackerson that sent her on her trip to her father's home universe.

The memory whirlwind stopped and settled on when Rebbecca was talking with her grandparents and the president on one of the balconies, specifically when her grandmother explained about the Forerunners and how Rebbecca was part one herself. She saw movement to her left and saw that the man that had immobilized her was standing there, watching the memory along with her. Rebbecca's grandmother began to explain to the Rebbecca memory about the Forerunners and how their culture was structured, with the mystics and the normals; the man seemed disgusted at that part. But suddenly he muttered something, a name.

"Marlyn."

The fact he knew her grandmother's name was the final key in the puzzle of this guy. He somehow had the ability to read her mind, and not to mention his eye color. He was a Forerunner.

"Figured me out."

Rebbecca looked over and saw that he was staring right at her.

"I know your relation to Marlyn now, to think she bred with a mongrel species and produced a family line leading to you!" He spat at her. "You filthy primates aren't worthy of even normal Forerunner genetics, let alone those of a mystic!"

Rebbecca backed away from, him, only to find herself backed into a wall with no way out. The memory dissolved and she was in a dark room with the Forerunner man bearing down on her. She raised her hands in a defensive posture as he made to lunge at her. Suddenly, he was gone and so was the dark room she was trapped in, replaced by another room of Forerunner construction. In it sat a woman Rebbecca recognized as Marlyn, but at a much younger age. She sat at a console facing what appeared to be a crystal that Rebbecca guessed was the same type of crystal capable of interdimentional travel. The same Forerunner man entered the room and began to disrupt Marlyn's work, they argued for a minute and Rebbecca was finally able to learn his name, Arynn.

The memory faded and another took its place, this one featuring Arynn talking to someone on a monitor in another room of Forerunner design.

"_Arynn, our fleet is moving into position, what do you have to report from your parasite studies?"_

"_We haven't made any headway, even in the live test subjects who were subjected to infection have had no response to our latest chemical and counter biological weapon designs."_

"_I trust you've kept this site secured, should the council find out what experiments you've conducted and that I sanctioned them..."_

"Using technology from one of my colleagues, I established a secure facility on a primitive planet on a parallel world. I left most of the test subjects there under guard of assault Sentinels, they should die of starvation within 200,000 years."

"_Your service to the military will not be forgotten, Arynn, even if we don't win this battle."_

"Understood, General," Arynn said.

An orb like thing drifted down toward Arynn, Rebbecca guessed it was one of the monitor things from her grandmother's description of them.

"Autonomous Flash, I thank you for your assistance in this endeavor, you will of course retain no memory of my involvement once I leave the room."

"Yes, master, I have also prepared a shuttle for you departure, with the main evacuation underway they should not be able to trace you to your facility on the outer rim."

"Understood," Arynn said as he finished packing his things into a small satchel and promptly left the room. The next memory also took place in a Forerunner structure, but this one was different and there was Covenant in the room forming two lines in front of some type of pod. A prophet hovered in front of the pod and it opened to reveal Arynn inside.

"Forerunner, we offer ourselves to you as your humble servants," the prophet said.

The memories flash forwarded to a discussion between the prophet and Arynn, pointing out the star system where the Forerunner shipyard and crystal laboratory were located. Later him pointing out the weakness of the stealth device the _Spirit of Fire_ used in battle. The survival of the _Unyielding Apocalypse_ flashed before her, along with a memory of the prophet and Arynn standing on a platform surrounded by an anchorage of the Forerunner ships now escorting the Covenant station. Finally the instillation of the black hole power source that was personally supervised by Arynn.

"This will power the weapon in addition to the standard weapons and defensive shields of this instillation," Arynn explained to the prophet.

"A pity you were not so forthcoming with this technology and enhancements when we first met," the prophet pointed out.

"That was because you pointed out that the technology on your vessels, comparatively primitive to mine, would be able to deal with the substantially more primitive human technology", Arynn retorted. Rebbecca could see the disdain each had for the other with every sentence they said to one another.

"I've interfaced the crystal into the base of this device, it was designed to channel vast amounts of subspace energy and can easily handle the energy required for the singularity's containment field."

"The Covenant is well aware at what one of these gravitic anomalies is capable of doing in its natural state," the prophet said with a hit of mild concern, "if the containment field should fail?"

"Then the singularity will expand briefly to critical mass before collapsing in on itself, the station will most likely be pulled in and destroyed if that occurs."

"How comforting," the prophet said, the sarcasm dripping out.

Finally, the memory flashback ended and Rebbecca found herself back in that dark room with Arynn a few feet away from her, studying her, puzzled.

"So, it seems even with your diluted genetics you inherited the abilities of a mystic."

"The memory thing, I did that?" Rebbecca asked.

"Well of course you did you primate!" Arynn said.

"Everything I saw was real?"

"They were my memories, not that you could comprehend what was going on in them."

That final piece of information sent Rebbecca over the edge, it had always been this Arynn behind everything that happened, everything that had gone wrong in her life. The attack on her father's Earth, and the attack on this Earth now; Arynn was responsible in one form or another. And the facility under Area 51, the one with the Flood that her father gave his life to destroy.

"You son of a bitch!" Rebbecca charged Arynn and tackled him to the ground. Landing on his chest, Rebbecca gave a few quick blows to his face; when he tried to grab her, she caught twisted his arm until it broke. She kept pounding at his face, venting every last one of her frustrations of the revelation that Arynn had been behind everything. When she was finished, she picked up the bruised Forerunner by the collar and spoke to him.

"You killed all those people on both Earths, you killed my father and you ruined my life!"

"I've heard that unchecked aggression can stimulate mystic abilities," Arynn said through a mouth of blood and broke teeth, "I've underestimated you, primate, but that will not hold true in the real world."

It finally occurred to Rebbecca that they were still in some kind of mind limbo, and that the beat down she gave to Arynn never physically happened. As soon as she was finished with that thought, the dark room disappeared and Rebbecca's ODST armor and helmet appeared on her again. She was gently lowered to the ground, as it seems the battle of the minds had taxed Arynn in the real world. He was rubbing his temples with his free hand, but his other still held the weapon. Rebbecca needed to act fast, and out of sheer luck she saw one of the plasma grenades The Chief had given her earlier attached to her vest, she wanted him dead and atomized by plasma seemed like the best way to go. In a blur of motion, she ripped the grenade from her vest, primed it and tossed it at the Forerunner, finding purchase. She leaped away, but was still caught in the explosion and violently tossed to the floor, shattering her faceplate on impact. Rebbecca didn't get out unscathed, she was forced to pat her own leg down after it caught fire, in addition to nursing her side which had taken the brunt of her landing. But to her shock she saw Arynn still standing there, and now the ODST realized she neglected to remember Arynn had a personal shield.

"I told you I would have the upper hand in the real world," he snickered as he raised his weapon, and Rebbecca resigned her self to defeat.

Arynn's leg and torso exploded in a shower of red blood and he fell to the floor. Looking up, Rebbecca saw that the Master Chief was up and had his assault rifle in hand.

"You're lucky that grenade took out his shields, Corporal," the Spartan said as he helped her up. Rebbecca walked over to the Forerunner and kicked him over, he was still alive, barely.

"I... I have... information... can be of use to you."

Rebbecca pulled her sidearm from its holster and pointed it at his head. The conversation regarding Ackerson that happened an hour ago played through her head, and Ackerson was most likely going to pay for his crimes in court. What Arynn had done was ten times worse than anything Ackerson could even dream of doing.

"No."

And the rapport of her pistol was her decision for Arynn, she emptied the entire magazine into his head, reducing it to a caved in mess of blood and cartilage and brains. The pistol slipped from her grasp, and she nearly fell to her knees had the Master Chief not caught her. The emotions and turmoil of everything that had happened threatened to cascade over her, but the Spartan's steadying hand reminded her she still had a mission to complete. And that's when she remembered...

"Johnson" she cried as she got to her feet and found where the former Sergeant had fallen. She knelt by his side and rolled him over, only to see the ugly burn wound that covered half his torso and shredded through his armor. And to her surprise she discovered he was still conscious. The Master Chief knelt behind her and fished through his pack for a med kit.

"You take care of that asshole?" Johnson asked through staggered breathing.

"Yeah, he's dead," Rebbecca said," hold on, we're gonna plant this nuke and get outta here."

"I thought that wasn't such a good idea?" Johnson asked.

"I don't have time to explain how I know it, but if we destroy this thing it should implode and take care of the station, no risk of the black hole destroying Earth."

"Good... complete your mission, Marine."

"First we get you stabilized, then I'm getting you outta here," Rebbecca said.

"No, no you're not," Johnson said, Rebbecca could hear him struggle with each breath. Rebbecca pulled her broken helmet off and cupped Johnson's face.

"You are not doing this to me, Uncle, you hear me?" Rebbecca could feel the tears gathering.

Johnson grabbed one of Rebbecca's hands firmly, "I would have died on the Ark if your father hadn't come here and did what he did, I owe him too much. The least I could to to repay him was taking you in. Chief..."

The Chief came closer to the fallen man, and Johnson placed Rebbecca's hand upon his gauntlet.

"Don't let her go, don't ever let her go," he muttered, "send me out... with a bang."

And with that, former Sergeant Major Avery Johnson drew his last breath. Rebbecca paused, and it felt like an eternity before The Chief shook her out of her stupor.

"What were you saying about the nuke not unleashing he black hole? Was it true?"

"Yeah, the Forerunner said so himself," Rebbecca replied.

Then we have to finish this fight, the Spartan said as he helped the ODST to her feet and snatched up the satchel containing the nuke from beside Johnson. He whipped the devise out, set the detonator card for thirty seconds and slapped it in. the Spartan affixed the weapon to the pedestal where the black hole was on, and armed it.

"Corporal, the beacon."

Rebbecca reached into her vest and pulled out the COM beacon to signal the Livewire. Taking one last look at the bodies of both Johnson and Arynn, she triggered it. In seconds, she and the Master Chief were transported away from this nightmare that was about to be consumed in nuclear fire.

**XXX**

"We have breaches on multiple decks," Apollo cautioned as another Forerunner energy beam hit the Yamato.

"Hold your course!" Horito yelled over the explosion of a console on the bridge. The Admiral's task force was taking heavy damage from the main Forerunner fleet that stood between them and the Covenant station. He was prepared to order all the remaining ships to ram as many Forerunner ships as it took to make a hole for _Yamato_'s suicide attack, but Apollo appeared on the plotting table.

"Admiral, reading a massive nuclear explosion directly ahead."

On the holotable, a representation of the _Unyielding Apocalypse_ appeared as one of its asteroid sections shattered under nuclear detonation from within.

"I'm detecting an energy reading along with increased gravitic activity," the AI reported.

"Override safety procedures and open bridge shutter two," Horito ordered.

One of the titanium-A plates that protected the bridge retracted and Horito looked out the viewport as the remaining part of the Covenant station was swallowed by a rapidly expanding black mass until it was completely gone. The mass then closed in on itself and a shock wave rocked the Yamato and the rest of the fleet.

"Apollo, tell me what the hell just happened."

"My sensors have been damaged, but from the readings I took I would have to deduce that the Covenant station was consumed by a black hole that has since imploded in on itself leaving no trace of it. I'm receiving COM traffic from the fleet as well, all the Forerunner ships have stopped firing and have gone inert."

"Sir, we've won," Brannigan said as he conformed the COM reports.

With the danger passed, Horito allowed himself to take a deep breath and relax. It was over.

**XXX**

The_ Livewire _docked at one of the recently re-powered ODPs where the surviving brass were attempting to establish a temporary headquarters. Captain Sinclair was sorry to hear about Johnson's death, and had to give the unfortunate news that Ackerson had somehow escaped custody and used the translocation device to get off the ship. Instead of heading to an extensive debriefing by Admiral Horito immediately after docking, Rebbecca had asked for a few moments alone which Sinclair gladly granted. She found an observation room right off of one of the parks on the station and shut herself inside. There was a chair in front of the window and she sat down, and simply stared out the window at the Earth below.

With the extensive damage to the moon and its rotation, the Earth was in for even more of a beating then it had already taken. Already there were fluctuations in the tides all across the planet, and they were predicted to get worse. Nearly a hundred UNSC ships had been destroyed, and with them the 90 million residents of Sydney, Australia when it was wiped off the map; the largest loss of life and ships since the war's end 20 years ago, but the Covenant had finally been defeated and humanity now had working Forerunner ships to study. Analysts and historians would probably say the cost of the battle was worth it, but at what cost was it to Rebbecca?

It felt like a year and a half had passed, but it had only been three days since that fight at ODST training that landed her in this mess. Finding out the truth about her parents, and killing the man responsible for her father's death, and finally the death of her Uncle who had raised her to this point. She had her revenge on everything that had happened with her life, but now she was alone. It was that feeling of loneliness that caused all her bottled up feelings to let loose, and she cried. She didn't hear the door open or see the Master Chief sit beside her, who removed his helmet. Rebbecca looked up and saw his scarred face, and a look of pity on it.

"Does it ever get easier?" She asked, referring to war and the costs in entails.

"No", The Chief replied.

Rebbecca sniffled and continued to look out the window, the Chief gingerly put an arm around her. Years after their first meeting, the Master Chief was finally able to comfort Kyle's daughter in a way he knew how, for she was a soldier now, just like her dad.


	30. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: I don't own halo, all OCs are mine.**

**Epilogue: Parallel Universes**

**Date unknown**

**Location: unknown**

The prophet was mad, more mad then he had ever been.

He was cursing the day he deciphered the location of that world on the rim of the galaxy here he found the Forerunner, Arynn. It was he who promised to restore the Covenant and failed to give the prophet the technology to do so. And when he finally did give him the means to bring his revenge on the humans did it backfire. The prophet had thankfully been on the opposite side of the station when half of it had been destroyed by a fusion device detonated from within, and the reaming half was pulled into the black hole. They found themselves in an unfamiliar star system next to that system's primary.

Although one of the asteroids that made up the station had been destroyed, the docking ring and other asteroid were still intact along with the main fusion generators; which means the station still had use. The brute ship master had been overzealous when he fired on the unknown ship that had apparently witnessed their appearance into this star system. And while he had been dealt with, the prophet needed to know where they were so he demanded the Captain of the alien vessel come aboard or his ship would face destruction.

The threat proved well enough to work, and the prophet now looked at the Captain of the vessel, a human!

"You will bow before the holy prophet," one of his brute bodyguards said to him.

"Ask your prophet, what gives him the right to attack a Federation vessel?"

The prophet had no idea what this federation was, probably some unholy alliance the humans and the Sangheili entered into.

"He won't tell us anything, kill him and destroy his ship," the prophet ordered, hoping this act of violence would quell his anger.

The brute swung his gravity hammer and killed the human Captain almost instantly.

And from his position in the captain's chair of the USS _Kelvin_, Acting Captain George kirk could only watch the viewscreen as the word' terminated' flashed across his captain's vital readouts.

"They've locked on our signal!"

"They're launching again!"

"Bravo 6, maneuver fire full spread..." Kirk had ordered before more weapons fire rocked the battered hull of the _Kelvin_.

**The End**

* * *

Well folks, this is it, and when I say this is it, I mean this is it; this does not mean I'm gonna book 50 shows at the O2 in London and then die a week before the first one. Michael Jackson references aside, this I can say is the end of the Kyle-091 saga that I began 2 years ago, and don't assume this little one off epilogue is a stepping stone to a Halo/Star Trek crossover; although I will tell you my next fic will be a crossover and I hope you all come and take a look at it.

But anyway, its been a fantastic ride writing this story, and while things got slow at times I'm glad I managed to finish this before the year was out, granted I cut it a little close. I hope you'll all leave me a wonderful review with your thoughts on the final chapter and the story now that its finished. And if you can't get enough of a fan insert fill, check out Maverick515's _Into the Fire, _a story I think is a worthy successor for fan inserts in this section now that the Kyle-091 saga is done.


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